My my mom was here for a few days. We didn't do much other than what I would normally do if I had some extra days off. We walked by the waterfront. We went to the farmer's market. We did some shopping. We went to Seattle for a few days. These are a few of the things I saw while she was here:
- Racing appliances. A group in town takes old appliances, recycles what they can, rehabs some for those who can't afford appliances and provides training opportunities for those who wouldn't normally have access to education in a trade. As a fund-raiser, once a year they race vehicles made up of old appliances down a very steep hill. Think soap-box derby except with appliances and real people.
- A dude with dreads carrying a large turtle. I'm pretty sure it was his pet.
- A woman carrying a toy poodle in one of those Baby Bjorn (or the equivalent) things.
- King Tut. Okay, not him. But I saw his stuff. And other ancient Egyptian stuff. It was So Very Awesome. I remember when the King Tut exhibit came through in the late-70s. I remember the King Tut-mania from the same time period. So, to see the items in person? Amazing. Now... I know I take a lot of pictures of shit, but when going to an exhibit like this, I want to see the things in person and take a picture of the things that speak to me for whatever reason. I may be in the minority. I saw numerous people walk up to an artifact and only look at it while they were taking a picture of it.
- A student, as in a former student. I didn't recognize him, but he recognized me. In Seattle. In a random vegan restaurant. He graduated two years ago and still remembers me.
- A woman arguing with her invisible friend/arch enemy in downtown Seattle.
- A woman tell me I was sitting in her train seat. I wasn't. They ran out of coach seats so they put me in business class. Cool. But they put me next to someone who seemed to think that both seats were hers. I considered challenging her overall bitchiness, but decided it would just be easier to move to the dining car. I could get a window seat, an unobstructed view, and a plug... all to myself.
- A dude missing the train. Kind of. One passenger sitting in the dining car, who, based on his very loud cell phone conversation, was doing a cross-country train trip and crashing with old friends along the way. The stop before my stop is a quick, two-minutes stop. It isn't one of those, get-off-the-train-and-stretch-your-legs stops. This guy decided to get off at this stop to mail a letter, but it wasn't his stop. The attendent told him not to. She held the train a few minutes longer than she was supposed to. She warned him. He didn't believe her, and the train left without him. One of the attendants called him (he left his pasport along with a beer and half-eaten apple in the dining car) and told him where he could find his stuff and to give him some options. Considering that he got off the train when he wasn't supposed to, I'd say they went above and beyond what they needed to.
- A few fleeting minutes of the sun.
4 comments:
Sounds like trains have lots of a-holes on them!
In the four years I've been taking the train, this is the first time I've run into someone who was a complete bitch. She was also yacking on her phone, talking about how shitty and god-awful the train was. Whatevs.
The dude who got left, he just didn't listen. I'm sure he was pissed, but he should've listened.
One of the benefits of sitting in the dining car is being able to see the inner-workings of the train. The attendants sit there during the ride. They talk about the problem passengers (someone who seemed to ride the train a lot and was "special" as the guy going off duty said). Tracking down the guy who got left and telling him where he could pick up his stuff. Or just listening to them talk about where they eat and hang out when they have layovers in Vancouver.
I love the train. If we had a better rail system, I'd take it over flying as much as possible.
You should hang out in the dining car every time! :)
I've started to. Until the Olympics in 2010, the train originated here, so we had the pick of the seats. Now it starts in Vancouver and the train attendants give out assigned seats. So, I get my seat assignment, which usually isn't a window seat or even a seat on the water side. So... I mark my seat as taken and then head to the dining car. If there's an open table, I stay there. Ans usually, the dining car seat is on the water side, and all tables have an outlet. If not, I go back to me seat. It seems that most people don't know the dining car exists.
What I have found, is the people in the dining car are usually seasoned travelers and this is just one leg of their trip.
Post a Comment