Is There a Doctor On Board?

Flying in to London was basically uneventful, other than my excitement and enough turbulence for the lady next to me to have a white knuckle grip for the remainder of the flight about 3 hours in.

Once to London, it was a train ride to a cab to another train statin. That's where the adventures began. I boarded the Euro Star for Paris and was actually physically beginning to sway before being allowed to take my seat. Exhaustion from the many hours of traveling and so little sleep were beginning to catch up to me.

Finally on the train, I was unconscious before the train even left London. I vaguely remember waking up long enough to close my gaping, drooling maw, but not really enough to even have the strength to open my eyes. Finally, after what felt like an hour or two, my eye lids flickered.

The train had stopped on an angle. We were resting on a bend in the tracks somewhere before Lille, out in the middle of the French countryside. There was some traffic ahead they announced, but the delay would only be about 20 minutes. I admired the tiny little church in the distance as it rested on the edge of a tiny little snow drifted town, but was quickly asleep again.

An hour later I awoke to a much darker landscape, but only a darker version of what I had previously been looking at. We had not moved.

The traffic ahead had gotten bad I guess. Somehow I managed to nod off once more, and when I woke up we were at a station in Lille, France.

"Ladies and Gentleman," the first train manager said, "we are still talking to the station master about letting us open the doors here for any of you who choose to exit in Lille. Hopefully we will continue our journey to Paris soon." The best I could figure, a 2 hour train ride was quickly becoming 10 or so. Still, I was on my way to Paris, so who was I to complain? Things could be worse.

The second train manager had an announcement next. He began in French but after a moment shared the translation.

"Ladies and Gentleman, if there is a doctor or physician on board, can you please report to cabin #2 please? Again, is there a doctor on board? Please report to cabin #2 quickly."

Yeah, things just got worse for somebody else on the train. I am very glad I am a patient person.

It's now 9pm and by the best I can figure I've been traveling for two days on two meals and two hours of sleep. However, I'm in France and could almost walk to Paris from where I am. Almost.

Since there is still snow on the ground out there and my warmest coat was a leather motorcycle jacket, I think I will just wait for the train.


I just hope the doctor makes it on time.