Travel delay '...due to a person hit by a train'

[bfc796]

I now realise that members of this forum generally don't come here to discuss serious real world stuff, which is fair enough - I get it, and will refrain from posting material of this kind henceforth.

I heard this yet again today at a local train station - everyone knows what it is a euphemism for... My heart goes out to the poor relatives of the deceased, given the unimaginable pain and horror they must be suffering right now (and for the rest of their lives). Every time something like this happens, it represents an incomprehensible tragedy for those affected by it. Every time. And yet we live in a world so bereft of compassion and empathy that there have been documented cases of suicidal individuals standing on the edge of a bridge or building, with a crowd of people below chanting 'JUMP! JUMP! JUMP!'. If that doesn't turn your stomach, then you have lost touch with your basic humanity.

I don't even travel by train that much - only very occasionally, being an avid cyclist - but even I've noticed the increased frequency with which this sanitised message is announced over the platform tannoy. If you start hearing this often enough, it is a sign trying to communicate with you; an indication that something, somewhere has gone terribly wrong with this world.

Mr Buzz Killington, signing off.

Peace.