Train Travel

I like public transportation. I’m staying in Virginia just outside DC. Anywhere I want to go in the town, there’s a metro line that will get me there.I like the convenience, the commonality, the collegiality of it. Last night we went to see the Capital’s play hockey. We all hopped the train wearing our colors along with all of our neighbors. It was fun.

Of course, as with anything public, you get to see the rough edges, the people unlike yourself, the people living on the edge perhaps, the people who don’t have an inside voice, the people who like to loudly share their thoughts, the people with only a dim understanding of personal boundaries. But that’s life, and it’s good to get a sense for how the other half lives, and see that we’re not very much different from one another.

I think we miss a lot when we encapsulate ourselves in our individual cars for solitary journeys and it’s a lot of work to drive. On the train, I can just sit, and look out the window and watch the world flash by and marvel at the sunset, and the rivers, and the countryside. It’s peaceful and it feels civilised, and I wish there was a train from my small town down to San Antonio or over to Austin rather than the ever widening miles of pavement they’re giving me. But the decision has been bought and paid for and it’s what I have. But a boy can always dream, and right now, I am.