Clarity
A silent joy of off peak travel
Posted 8 Dec 2008
Commuting, Places | Leave a Comment
As a consultant, I regularly travel to the offices of my clients for meetings. With most of my meetings scheduled at the ‘standard’ meeting times (10.30 am and 2.00 pm), I find myself commuting at off-peak times. I rather enjoy this. More than just avoiding the crush and tumble of rush hour, this presents the opportunity to take in the areas through which I travel. As the train or bus rumbles along its route, I am inclined to wonder about the lives of the people whose door fronts, back gardens and neighbourhoods I see. In a way, I find it very relaxing – yet absorbing. I get carried away by my day dreams.
Another ‘joy’ of travelling to different locales for meetings is trying to get the timing right. I am not overly impressed by the reliability of the British transport system, so ensuring a timely arrival at a client meeting almost inevitably means arriving early and then searching for a café or coffee shop. I try to steer clear of the Starbucks and Costa Coffees of the world – I prefer to find something different. Something local. Sometimes I win and find a hidden gem in some corner of London, Swindon or elsewhere. Other times, I strike out and suffer through a mug of coffee that tastes like it was filtered through the sewer system. But that’s what I like … the little adventures and experiences that comes with travelling to new places. (No, I don’t like coffee that tastes like poop-water.)
Hunt the vandals with helicopters
Posted 2 Dec 2008
On London’s Tube (subway) you can see these signs:
The relevant text in the above photo is as follows:
If you see a train being vandalized call the British Transport Police
Note the graphics on the sign though, a helicopter and a CCTV camera. Safe to assume that this means the British Transport Police are prepared to send a helicopter into the tunnels beneath London to crack down on vandalism? And CCTV - isn’t the point of that to always be recording? Are they waiting for my call to instruct them to turn the cameras on and let them know where to point them?
From a by-gone era
Posted 26 Nov 2008
Commuting, Daily Life, The Little Things | 2 Comments
It was an early morning for me today. I had a full schedule of client meetings and was out the door of my house pretty soon after sunrise (which admittedly in England at this time of year isn’t that early). On my way to the park-and-ride, I saw an older chap pull quickly up to the kerb, jump out of his car and run into the phone booth.
“Blimey!”, I thought, “You don’t see that very often any more.” The mobile phone has pretty much done away with the pay phone these days. Not entirely, mind you, but it’s become enough of an old dinosaur that I certainly didn’t expect to see someone using it this morning.
So, what else lingers about these days but doesn’t really get much use?
(On a related note, over the weekend, I found myself having to explain to a 4-year old what a cassette tape was and how it doesn’t get really get much use anyone, at least not in the West.)
Just one more thing
Posted 25 Nov 2008
Commuting, Daily Life | 6 Comments
“Sure. Go ahead an throw it on top – we’ve got plenty of room up there.”
Mountain of stairs
Posted 24 Nov 2008
Commuting, Daily Life, People | 3 Comments
Over the weekend, I was caring for a young child I know. The child had learned to walk in the previous months and so powering about on his feet was still very exciting to him. This child loved to climb the stairs in his house – just for fun. And I was watched him climb, making sure he didn’t tumble backwards to a painful crash, I was amazed at how much work it was for him to climb the stairs.
Each step just about came up to just below his waist. There were 13 steps leading from the ground floor to the next. So, this little fella was pulling and scrapping his way to the top, time and time again, for fun. He was giggling, laughing, talking and singing on each trip. It was a hoot.
As I watched on, I began to think about whether or I would climb proportionally sized steps for fun. I am 6′3″. Would I repeatedly climb 13, three-foot steps just for fun? For that matter, would I go back up almost 40 feet (close to a 3-story building) in stairs to collect whatever it was I forgot this morning as I ran down the stairs this morning, late for work? Could I even run down the stairs if each step was half my height?
