RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31196, 21 October 1966, Page 22

RANDOM REMINDER

EXPRESS DELIVERY

From a St. Albans correspondent comes a story of a misplaced helping hand which is obviously apocryphal but which has particular appeal because it at least is near the truth in recalling man’s frantic efforts to keep pace with the tides of affairs. A man is said to have got on to a train which was travelling from Penzance to Paddington. After a while he discovered it did not stop at Westbury, and he had very urgent business there. He explained to the others in the compartment that the business was so important

that he felt he ought to pull the communication cord at Westbury. Those with equally urgent business in London did not welcome the thought of the inevitable delay. One of them said he was part of a strongman act in a circus. He said that if he held the Westbury-bound man out of the window when the train was approaching the station, and the suspended gentleman got his legs working very fast indeed, it should be possible to put him down on the platform safely and give him room and time to stop

running before he reached the end of the platform. The arrangement was made. At the beginning of the platform, the man was put down and was able to run along it. travelling at a very high speed. As he approached the end of the platform he realised, thankfully, that he would be able to slow down and stop just in time. At that stage the train had nearly passed, but there was still the guard s van. As the van went by, the guard opened his door and hauled the man into the van. "Nearly missed it that time, didn't you,” he said.