This was the extent of my train awareness (with the exception of one train ride when I was ten, but I spent most of that so afflicted with motion sickness, that I don't like to remember it), until I rode the train as an adult for the first time when I was twenty.
Now, due to my lack of drivable vehicles, if ever I wish to visit the family, I must needs take the train. It is much cheaper than driving, or flying. Also, it takes me ten hours to make a six-hour trip. So, add that into my drive up from Mexico (made needlessly long by the ridiculous border wait) and it takes me from 5am to 11pm to get where I am going. And that is on a good day.
Train riding is one of those things that I enjoy simply because it is what it is. There isn't a whole lot of romance in the conductors rushing you up the stairs whilst you are trying not to drop your luggage on the tracks; nor in the potentiality that you will have to share your space with an unknown occupant. However, my favorite part of train riding is gazing out the window at the coastline breezing by. If I pay close attention I can spot things that I think maybe nobody else saw, and, looking down from my perch, I can see things in a way that I don't normally get to see them. Like the tops of people's heads. Or the oil rigs in the ocean. My especial favorite is the tops of buildings. Who really thinks about those? But some people do. I do.
I'm going home tomorrow for my mom and my brother's birthday. I haven't gotten them anything yet. What do you get for people who have money to buy things that they want? Especially when I'm much more poor than they are. This is where sentimental gifts are useful. Too bad I'm not very sentimental. Then again, I don't think my mom and my brother are either. I come from a very practical family.
Also, I have been wanting to use the word miasma in a sentence for a long time. But I haven't been able to manage it:
mi⋅as⋅ma
| 1. | noxious exhalations from putrescent organic matter; poisonous effluvia or germs polluting the atmosphere. |
| 2. | a dangerous, foreboding, or deathlike influence or atmosphere. |
See why?
2 comments:
Last time I was on a train, it was to go from the suburbs into Chicago. It was a year and a half ago when Julia (red head) and I visited Rich. I like it for the view too. You're higher than EVERYTHING, but not good for night time pictures since the cars are lit up inside. It was relaxing not driving, and almost soothing. Enjoy your trip. I haven't seen you all week! sad. oh well. come back soon.
'On garbage day, a miasma of burning refuse hangs over the town of Zarahemla.'
Also, I like trains because I can read for hours at a time, and nothing else is expected of me. I can't clean anything or cook anything or google anything.
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