I’ve just got home, nearly three hours after boarding a train at Brighton station for a train back to London. A journey that should’ve taken well under two hours door to door.

I knew getting a train to the coast today, when there was a train driver’s overtime ban, was going to be risky. There were less trains running than usual and high possibilities of further cancellations. I figured it would be ok though, I just needed to avoid travelling at the same time as all the Gooner’s who would’ve been heading to the seaside for Arsenal’s game against Brighton Albion (I’ve been on trains with football fans heading home from a match before and it’s not fun at the best of times).

Before I got out of bed I checked the trains to see if the one I was planning on getting from London Blackfriars was running. It was but I could see a whole load of other trains had been cancelled. That didn’t look promising. I guess no one could have predicted a landslip south of Haywards Heath which would reduce the lines from two to one for all trains in both directions, resulting in numerous cancellations and delays.

The original cancellation risk was already not ideal for my travel anxiety, and this just multiplied my fears. It wasn’t the journey there that worried me, it was what if I couldn’t get home and got stuck there?! I didn’t really want to stay the night as with another day of strikes tomorrow I couldn’t risk not getting home for a gig tomorrow night.

I took the risk and decided I’d just keep an eye on the trains and head back earlier than I might’ve normally.

The journey down wasn’t too bad. I got a seat and after a delay sitting at Haywards Heath for what felt far longer than it probably was, we arrived in Brighton around 20 minutes late.

Around 4pm I checked trains and all the trains that hadn’t been cancelled were showing as delayed. I started walking back towards Brighton from Hove, grabbed a late lunch of fish and chips and headed to the station.

I jumped on an already packed train sitting on the platform even though there was no indication of when it was going to leave. I was sitting on it for 30 minutes before we moved – I dread to think how long others had been waiting – to only go one stop where again we were held at a red signal. I suddenly wished I’d paid twice the price for the Southern Service to Victoria as there was an almost empty train sitting on the next platform waiting ahead of us for a green signal.

The camaraderie on the train was great though. Cheers each time we moved from one station to the next. The group behind me were perhaps a tad louder than I’d have liked – I was glad I realised I had my Loop Earplugs in my bag to drown out the sound.

Just as we thought we were past the trouble and would sail back into London, more bad news. A relief driver had gone awol so our packed train was terminating at Three Bridges. Where that was in relation to how far I still had to go I had no idea, but by this point I just had to laugh and go with the flow knowing I’d get home eventually. Fortunately after only a few minutes waiting on the platform a near empty train rolled in and we all piled on.

Of course these delays were due to a complete unforeseen incident, and had it not been for that I’m my journey both ways would’ve been fine, despite the cancellations due to train strikes. That said, the trains in this country are not only expensive compared to other European country, but they are increasingly unreliable and these ongoing strikes make it even harder to make plans to use them for trips out of London, as I’m sure it does for people in other parts of the country.

I don’t know what the answer is as it seems neither side is going to give in, but with the HS2 debacle it’s clear that this government’s priorities when it comes to rail network improvements are not aligned with the publics so it doesn’t feel like things are going to get better anytime soon.