Paul,
I respect them as a nation, but they have always been to anal for me. If you have been as many times as I have, you will understand what I mean.
Everything has to be so "regimented and to the exact time" even their trains. The last time I was there they "profusely" apoligised for being 2 seconds late on the platform, where the train doors stop exactly on the marks.
So in short, I think it was an absolute miracle, we in the west did not find ourselves at the end of one of their surprises!! which could have meant surrender