April 25, 2025

Did you say mail rail???

It's a train! A train for the mail!

The count:

• 6 full days

• 6 matches

• 25 trains on 9 services

Yesterday was my off-day, the only full day I’ll be spending here without a match, just a train ride from Manchester to London. I took a longer, slightly indirect route, just to add two more services to my train experience, Transport for Wales and West Midlands Trains. I had no idea what to do with myself once I got to London, so I wandered around the side streets near my hotel before dinner and an early bedtime.

BUT.

While I was looking for dinner options, and while scanning Google Maps, I saw a mark for “The Postal Museum.” Okay, say less, I’m in. Then I went to book a ticket and it advised me to show up at the time booked to ensure I can ride the Mail Rail. What is this, a special-interest cross-over episode??

Even before I finished booking my ticket, it was clear that the museum was generally more for actual children, but I didn’t care, I’m going to ride a Train! For! Mail!

Like, I rode 5 trains today, and 4 were fine, but one was THE MAIL RAIL. Apparently from the 1920s until 2008, most of the London mail was moved around on mini-electric trains underground.

I arrived in time to wait in line for 30 minutes before boarding the train with cars so tiny, I felt like Andre the Giant climbing in. It was cool, going through the old tunnels, and a little corny. I spent the whole time wondering why it stopped in 2008, thinking about how something like this could solve a lot of problems on the Boston streets¹, but it was not meant to carry Amazon packages, just letters, so it wouldn’t really work.

By the time I was done with the 15 minute ride, I was swiftly approaching my maximum sensory stimulation limit, but I crossed the street to where the rest of the museum was housed.

After reading the introduction to the first exhibit, it was clear I had actually already reached my limit, but I still wanted to see the museum. I wandered through, half-conscious, and saw there was a special exhibit titled “Voices of Resistance: Slavery and Post in the Caribbean” which looked amazing. I looked through while my head was spinning until finally I had to accept that I was defeated, sensory overload was in full force. At least I got to ride the mail rail.

I got back to my hotel where I started at the ceiling for 20 minutes before it was time to catch the next train to the next match. This trip has been amazing but oh my god, I am drained.

The train to the match was packed. Actually, the first two were so packed I couldn’t bring myself to shove in, knowing I had time to spare. But by the third one, I was bored of waiting on the platform, so I squeezed in and started southeast toward Kingsmeadow² in Kingston-on-Thames, where I would see top of the WSL table Chelsea host bottom of the table Crystal Palace.

There was about a 15 minute walk to the stadium, and I was already asleep on my feet before I looked at my ticket and realized I’d booked in the standing supporters section. So I popped into the corner store, or whatever they call it in this country, and bought a Red Bull.

On the way to my seat, I met Basil Goode, Chelsea WFC super fan. I had to say hello, I couldn’t resist. I’ve seen him in the stands at countless televised matches over the years. He was a charmer, and apparently has two grandsons named variations of Theo, though he didn’t seem totally sure of the count when we talked. He seems like as much of a character in person as on screen.

One of the things that always amazes me about women’s football outside of the States³ is that I can spend less than $20 on a ticket, and find myself close enough to the pitch that, if they were so inclined, I could have a conversation with some of the greatest footballers in the world, without shouting.

The “stadium” of Kingsmeadow is smaller than most US high school stadiums, with a capacity of 2,265 and the furthest distance from the pitch being about 5 rows of seats. My assigned standing section was so close to the player’s bench that I could hear them giggling at one point in the match.

With Chelsea, this is particularly striking because they have multiple players on their roster that, when signed, were the most expensive signing in women's football at the time, with each signing increasing significantly above the previous one.⁴ So there I stand, perking up with the Red Bull, watching some of the greatest footballers in the world ply their trade.

To be honest, I expected the match to be a blow out. Chelsea are just on a different level than most teams in the world, while Crystal Palace are facing relegation at the end of the season. It was a lopsided competition to be sure, with Chelsea having 70% of the possession, and 28 shots to Palace’s total of zero, but with a final score of “only” 4-0, I could understand the frustration of manager Sonia Bompastor.

Last Sunday, Chelsea lost the first leg of the two-legged UWCL tie with FC Barcelona Femení 4-1. This Sunday, they need to score at least 4 goals and concede none if they hope to proceed to the UWCL Final. They only managed that much in this match, and Palace is no Barça. They better find their shooting boots by Sunday or it will be a repeat of last year, where their UWCL journey ended at Stamford Bridge with a loss to Barça, who would go on to triumph over Lyon in the finals.

I’ll be at that match as well, and I will be playing the role of a Chelsea supporter, but frankly, this will be one of those cases of “emotionally fraught because I want both teams to win, but know that they both cannot” that I’ve previously mentioned.