The train station of the supernatural

I have just survived an amazing happening. Oh, everything is normal now, but just an hour or so ago, the world around me vanished and I was transported seamlessly into a parallel universe. No really.

I was at a rather large, busy commuter train station out in the burbs of Copenhagen (Høje Taastrup, for what it's worth) ready to go from work into the city to do more work. The station seemed totally normal. The platforms were there, with their little tv screens telling where the next train would be going, and when it would be going there. The ticket machines, the station convenience store, my fellow travellers. All was as it should be. Except. Except...in this parallel universe there were no trains. At all. In any direction. All the tracks (and there were several) were spookily empty. For at least 15 minutes. Where did they go?! And then, finally, a train arrived, and I realized that I must have been transported back to the universe that I usually inhabit.

There are those in Denmark who will blame this twist in the train station space-time continuum on the snow. But I don't believe that. As I see it, when all the trains are late (as they seemed to be, judging by the information given on the little tv screens), the wait for a train should be the same as normal...instead of waiting to catch your train which is late, you catch the next earlier train which wasn't there earlier because all the trains are running late. Simple logic really.

I know, wishful thinking. I grew up in Northern California, where we didn't have snow, but where, when it rained, everyone would simply forget how to drive, and just leave their cars in the middle of the freeway. (Perhaps I exaggerate, but not as much as you might hope). It would drive (no pun intended) Midwestern transplants I've met mad, and left me with the idea that we were the only ones who couldn't deal with the weather. After all, it rains every year. You'd think we'd get used to it. In Portugal it was a bit the same.

In London, the underground gets closed for anything. A leaf on the track has closed a line before, which sounds like an urban myth, but I think is actual historically documented fact. When there's snow, which is only a few days a year, there are always problems. And what do people say? There is snow every year, so why should they be surprised? You'd think they'd get used to it. In Denmark, there is more snow than in London, and whenever there is snow, especially the first couple of days after a snowfall, there are major transportation problems. And guess what people say...there is snow every year. You'd think they'd get used to it. 'Hvor svært kan det være?' - 'How hard can it be?'

As I continue my journey Northward through Europe, I eagerly await the time when I find the country which has 'gotten used to' winter weather. But does that country exist in reality, or only in another parallel universe? I await response from any readers from colder climes; Finland, Siberia, maybe Greenland. Do your trains run on time on the first day(s) of snow? Because ours sure don't, and I'm getting a bit tired of waiting outside in the cold.