trains

➔ The weather seems to be struggling to become winter at the moment. On Monday I thought it would be cold, wrapped up warm and it turned out to be a mild day, bordering on sunny. On Tuesday I wear shorts and tights and don’t even think of bringing an umbrella. I’m cold all day and around midday it begins to chuck it down and I’m left soaking wet. Today I wrap up, bring my umbrella because gdi I am not being cold or wet. It’s sunny today and not a drop of rain and I become the idiot carrying an umbrella for no reason. :| But it is bitterly cold- the sort of cold that gets under your skin and settles there.

➔ I have to wake up on 6am on Wednesdays. When I wake up its dark and by the time I’m on the train its pretty much light but the horizon is still tinged with pink. Frost lies on all the fields and there is a slight mist above the small lake I pass. Britain is at its most beautiful in the early hours of the morning, observed from a warm place inside, I think. It’s beautiful but just looking at it reminds me I’m supposed to be in bed, I want to be in bed, at such a time. It’s a horrible day. I ended up buying some Green Tea because I was desperate for some caffeine but didn’t want to drink coke in the morning and I wasn’t feeling masochistic enough to try and drink coffee. Green tea does have caffiene…right?

➔ I’m becoming scarily adjusted to the train. I notice that I get the same guys pushing the service trolley, I notice I get the same people checking my tickets, I notice I get the same people working at the station, I notice people who I have seen on the platform/on the train before. I know which side I need to stand at when the train is approaching the station. I know which platform my train arrives and leaves. I know the best time to stand up so I’m first off the train and don’t have to get stuck behind people. I can stand on the train and not hold on to anything! I have my favourite place to sit, and when there I kick off my shoes and put my feet up, using my coat as a blanket, and read whilst listening to music. I steal glances at the cute Asian guy sitting a few rows along from me. I might do some work.

Train travel is rather mundane.

➔ I also have a lot of waiting around time which I generally spend people watching. Today it was watching all the business people huddling in their professional clothes and wondering what it must be like to commute to London every day, and if those people standing around waiting for a train to Glasgow did that long commute every day and how it could possibly be rewarding (5 hours to Glasgow!). There was nothing interesting or stand out. I do see bizarre and interesting things though- A guy walking into the ladies toilets (seen this twice wtf), a women struggling to get off the train in heels- literally gripping the door and leaning against it in an effort to get down- and then proceeding to totter away across the platform (amusing, why wear those shoes if you cannot walk in them?), a guy almost getting stuck on a train leaving behind his wife and child who had already gotten off (thankfully the staff noticed and they delayed the train a moment to let him off), a couple arguing and the girl moving to sit away from her boyfriend and refusing to even look at him (he gradually got her to talk to him but she did not look happy), a train spotter with his camera poised and ready to take a picture of our departing train (I wonder why. It seems like such a boring thing to do. And if you are going to take a picture of a train- why a northern rail train? If I’d have to look at a train as something pretty I’d say Virgin trains or London Midland are far more good looking.)

➔ I’m glad this week of uni is over. Now I don’t have to worry about what to wear as I can sit around in my hoodie, guys t-shirt and sweat pants and NOT LEAVE THE HOUSE. I will not be cold or get wet or be struggling to stay awake during long lectures. I finished my coursework too so I don’t have much work to do.

I love this part of the week.