Post AckFjNdFNMvanwdm64 by MarkHoltom@mastodonapp.uk
(DIR) More posts by MarkHoltom@mastodonapp.uk
(DIR) Post #AckFjEGwAwjbm98KZc by MarkHoltom@mastodonapp.uk
2023-12-12T09:12:58Z
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It is Christmas. So take a breather and let me tell you a story about London, trains, love and loss, and how small acts of kindness matter.I'm going to tell you about the voice at Embankment Tube station.Just before Christmas 2012, staff at Embankment Tube station were approached by a woman who was very upset.She kept asking them where the voice had gone. They weren't sure what she meant. The Voice?1/n
(DIR) Post #AckFjGC3260njYrSEK by MarkHoltom@mastodonapp.uk
2023-12-12T09:15:01Z
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The voice, she said. The man who says 'Mind the Gap'Don't worry, the staff at Embankment said. The announcement still happens, but they've all been updated. New digital system. New voices. More variety.The staff asked her if she was okay."That voice," she explained, "was my husband."The woman explained that her husband was an actor called Oswald Laurence. Oswald had been the chap who had recorded all the Northern Line announcements back in the seventies2/n
(DIR) Post #AckFjHwsVT49B5mMrY by MarkHoltom@mastodonapp.uk
2023-12-12T09:16:03Z
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And Oswald had died in 2007.Oswald's death had left a hole in Margaret's heart. But one thing had helped. Every day, on her way to work, she got to hear his voice.Sometimes, when it hurt too much, she explained, she'd just sit on the platform at Embankment and listen to the announcements for a bit longer.For five years, this had become her routine. She knew he wasn't really there but his voice - the memory of him - was. To everyone else, it had just been another announcement. 3/n
(DIR) Post #AckFjJprUWdr1uVnCi by MarkHoltom@mastodonapp.uk
2023-12-12T09:16:45Z
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To HER it had been the ghost of the man she still loved. And now even that had gone.The staff at Embankment were apologetic, but the whole Underground had this new digital system, it just had to be done. They promised, though, that if the old recordings existed, they'd try and find a copy for her.Margaret knew this was unlikely, but thanked them anyway.4/n
(DIR) Post #AckFjLm2Hiln2cjlWC by MarkHoltom@mastodonapp.uk
2023-12-12T09:18:23Z
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In the New Year, Margaret sat on Embankment Station, on her way to work. And over the speakers she heard a familiar voice. The voice of a man she had loved so much, and never thought she'd hear again."Mind the Gap" Said Oswald Laurence.Because it turned out a LOT of people within @TfL and beyond had lost loved ones and wished they could hear them again.And they'd all realised that with luck, just this once, for one person, they might be able to make that happen.5/n
(DIR) Post #AckFjNdFNMvanwdm64 by MarkHoltom@mastodonapp.uk
2023-12-12T09:20:00Z
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Archives were searched, old tapes found and restored. Others had waded through the code of the announcement system to alter it while still more got exemptions. And together they made Oswald talk again.And that is why today, even in 2019, if you go down to Embankment station in London, and sit on the northbound platform on Northern Line, you will here a COMPLETELY different voice say Mind the Gap to ANYWHERE else on the Underground.It's Oswald.Merry Christmas everyone.6/6