HIGH-SPEED HOMEWARD

It was always going to be a thing. At some point or other I was bound to have to stand squished between commuters in the bendy bit between train carriages.

They say this trip, the journey between London and Reading, is the most crowded train journey in the country. It's hard to see at the moment, how this train could be any fuller - every carriage has people standing through the middle, and I presume, every connecting section is just as claustrophobic as this one is. You couldn't squeeze another person in here unless their feet were wedged out through the sliding window.

"We're sorry to announce that this train will be delayed by ten minutes as we're currently waiting for a replacement driver."

I'd volunteer myself - it's just pushing a lever forwards and braking whenever you see a red light isn't it?

There are twenty three people here between coaches E and F. No driver yet.

I guess it's a good opportunity to reflect on the course. Two days of useful experience and knowledge, or a brief opportunity to stick post-its to the wall with strangers? Both, I suppose. I was sleepier today, so at least until I'd munched my way through a handful of Skittles, I was drifting off like an enchanted balloon.

Not to say I didn't get a lot out of it; it was actually pretty good in the end. And as promised, there were no PowerPoint related deaths.

We're off. It's amazing how twenty three people can stand so close together and yet still somehow avoid eye-contact with anybody. I've counted four iPhones, two Samsung Galaxy Notes, a Kindle and a hardback copy of a book by Michael Calvin. The wind rushes past the open window as we all bounce around to the motion of the train. It feels much faster than it does in the carriages. Perhaps its momentum has been increased by the village-sized population currently aboard.

One highlight of the course was that I have proven to myself that I can actually interact with people I don't know very well. I'm not a forward-thinking networker who boldly asks for contact details or assumes the reigns before anyone else has a chance, but I can be confident enough to lead a team if the situation requires it. OK, sitting in a room with software developers and project managers is pretty much my job anyway, but it's reassuring to know that in a survival situation there would be enough of me to do something, to be something useful.

I don't particularly want to think about survival situations though, while sandwiched between twenty three commuters in the bendy bit between two carriages on a high-speed train. To be honest, I'd just like to get home.