So the Hammersmith and City line train I was taking home this evening pulled into Edgeware Road station this evening, and sat there for a while. This isn't totally surprising, as Edgeware Road seems to have some sort of mesmerising hypnotic effect for trains, and often it seems they can sit there for several minutes before suddenly realising "hey, I'm meant to be going somewhere". It's a property that it shares with Earl's Court station - maybe they swap tricks on snaring unsuspecting underground services
Anyway, after a wait, another train going in the same direction pulled in to the platform next to us. (Edgeware road has 4 platforms). Something clicked in the back of my mind, and I stood up and checked the platform indicators. Ours said "Hammersmith". Its said "Hammersmith", which I then realised wasn't a surprise as the service was up the spout in my favour tonight (strange as it may seem, sometimes the service goes wrong to my advantage rather than disadvantage. But only rarely) - I'd just missed a Hammersmith train, the next one had come along in half the timetabled wait, and the very next train was also one. And here is that very next train, sitting opposite.
So we have 2 Hammersmith trains. Which one will go first? I've been here before, and been overtaken. I can see that ours has a red signal, so I feel confident to get off onto the platform, as it's not going anywhere fast. At which point I can see that the other has a green signal. So I defect. And after 3 attempts at closing the doors, we are off, much to the chagrin of the people remaining on my former train. Particularly the woman who only woke up to events on the first door closing attempt, and did a runner across the platform only to reach us just as our doors finally closed.
So tonight, I didn't let it get one up on me. Which is satisfying.
