I travelled along a dark tube which suddenly brought me into an area with rows of chairs. They faced an enormous screen, headed ‘Destinations’. Above the screen was a large clock. Beyond it there were two large doors; one was red and the other green.

A few others were there before me and sat concentrating on the screen. It had a vertical list of destinations and against each was designated the departure door and a time. The list seemed endless and repetitive.

The top entry read:

‘Hellish Journey       Red Door                   Delayed   Time TBA’

Below it there was a steam of entries like:

‘Heavenly Journey  Green Door   20:30  On Time’

This entry was repeated with only an update to the time, which progressively increased by 10 minutes. Entries expired when they agreed with the digital clock.

People came and sat for a while. They then looked at the destinations, smiled and went through the green door. The procession was constant and only a very few like me held back.

Eventually the board held no ‘Heavenly Journeys’ and the remaining entry for the ‘Hellish Journey’ read ‘Cancelled’.

We few shuffled back down the tube, towards daylight.