Showing posts with label Trains. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trains. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
New Life
He didn't know what triggered it, but all of a sudden the wheels of the old rusted engine started to turn ever so minutely and the old train let out a loud blast of steam and slowly started rolling once again. Time would tell if this was a revival for the tattered old engine or merely it blowing steam.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Empty Trains
I love riding on empty trains. I commute to and from Manhattan every day from my town of Bloomfield NJ, so every day I hop a NJ Transit train into Penn Station to go to my internship at PBS. Usually I take a late train home, late ranging from 10:30PM to 12:30AM and when I do the train is empty.
I'm not going to pretend that there's some deep and meaningful reason as to why I like taking an empty train, because there isn't. The reason I like taking an empty train is simply because when the train is empty I get my pick of the seats. I can sit where I want and I can sprawl out all over the seat and not be concerned about anyone else sitting next to me and since I often come home late (and therefore tired) I take advantage of the space, making sure my often heavy bag has its own space on the seat I'm sitting on. It's glorious and I get a decent amount of sleeping done as the train brings me home to Bloomfield.
Despite my late nights and empty trains on my way home, I rarely, if ever, manage to catch an empty train in. More often then not I am actually packed onto a crowded train and angry with the world because I'm exhausted from lack of sleep. Most of the time I manage to grab a small uncomfortable seat to myself where the handicapped priority seating is, but there are days where I'll walk onto the train and there are no seats available. I hate those days.
At first, when I came across days like that I would just stand for the duration of the trip, resigning myself to a corner of the section by the doors that isn't in the vestibule, brooding the entire time and cursing the world. However, one bold day I decided to continue walking through the train from car to car and lo and behold, I found an isle spot on a three-seater. (Unspoken train ettiquite states that sitting next to someone is only acceptable if you know them or its a three-seater so the middle seat is empty, or it's a two seater, but only to some people) From this I learned a valuable lesson; I can stand and brood, cursing the world for the cards I've been delt, or I can move forward.
Moving forward isn't a garuntee that things will get better, honestly, I had to move through quite a few cars that were worse than the one I was in, but eventually I found a lone seat. However, even if I didn't find that lone seat, moving forward and trying to improve my situation definately beats the hell out of standing around and brooding.
I'm not going to pretend that there's some deep and meaningful reason as to why I like taking an empty train, because there isn't. The reason I like taking an empty train is simply because when the train is empty I get my pick of the seats. I can sit where I want and I can sprawl out all over the seat and not be concerned about anyone else sitting next to me and since I often come home late (and therefore tired) I take advantage of the space, making sure my often heavy bag has its own space on the seat I'm sitting on. It's glorious and I get a decent amount of sleeping done as the train brings me home to Bloomfield.
Despite my late nights and empty trains on my way home, I rarely, if ever, manage to catch an empty train in. More often then not I am actually packed onto a crowded train and angry with the world because I'm exhausted from lack of sleep. Most of the time I manage to grab a small uncomfortable seat to myself where the handicapped priority seating is, but there are days where I'll walk onto the train and there are no seats available. I hate those days.
At first, when I came across days like that I would just stand for the duration of the trip, resigning myself to a corner of the section by the doors that isn't in the vestibule, brooding the entire time and cursing the world. However, one bold day I decided to continue walking through the train from car to car and lo and behold, I found an isle spot on a three-seater. (Unspoken train ettiquite states that sitting next to someone is only acceptable if you know them or its a three-seater so the middle seat is empty, or it's a two seater, but only to some people) From this I learned a valuable lesson; I can stand and brood, cursing the world for the cards I've been delt, or I can move forward.
Moving forward isn't a garuntee that things will get better, honestly, I had to move through quite a few cars that were worse than the one I was in, but eventually I found a lone seat. However, even if I didn't find that lone seat, moving forward and trying to improve my situation definately beats the hell out of standing around and brooding.
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