something about a train
Sep. 22nd, 2004 02:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sanpaku_backupOn both train rides, down and back, the Acela was delayed for close to 2 hours. The first trip it was because some kind of drawbridge was stuck in the up position. The second it was because of an unspecified "police action" (in almost the same spot), which usually means, uh, someone was killed by a train, sometimes a suicide.
I have been on many delayed trains in my life. The worst was 8+ hours from Chicago to Cleveland, when a derailment ahead forced us on to a 10 mph alternate route. So 2 hours is not a big deal to me. It was good in that I actually managed to write most of the paper I am supposed to give next month, which is due to the commenter on Monday.
But train delays force you to listen to the cell phone calls of surrounding ninnies. (Every cell phone call you ever overhear, btw, has the following pattern: "Yeah, I'm on a cell phone... I'm in/at ______." Somehow it's always completely necessary to explain where you are and to add that you're on a cell phone, as though the other person can't tell that. I don't know why this annoys me, but it does.) Usually people on the Acela talk about incomprehensible business things, work orders and deliverables and so on. Last night it was some guy yammering to what I think was his parole officer. ("Yes, officer, I'm on a train. We'll be stopped here for hours, officer.")
Anyway, it is a requirement, if you are on a stopped train, and you call someone on a cell phone, to say something like this;
"Yeah, I can't believe this train. It's been here for hours. This is the last time I ride the train. I am never taking Amtrak again!"
I can't tell you how many times I have heard idiots saying this. Let's set aside the fact that if you are sitting in your car for two hours -- as I did on the approaches to and from the Tappan Zee Bridge on Sunday -- or if you are stuck on a plane on an approach for takeoff -- as I have been many times -- you can't get up and walk around, go to the bathroom, get a cup of coffee, and so on.
But when you are doing those things, are you going to then say, "I will never fly again" or "I will never drive again"? It doesn't make sense on any level, because you really have no more freedom of conveyance on any given mode of transit. For car, plane, and train, you probably have, what, about a 75% to 90% chance of getting where you want to go on time. (Unless you're driving in rush hour, which people seem not to mind for some reason.)
So surely this response has something to do with Amtrak being seen as Big Government and people feel Oppressed by the Man when riding the train the same way they do when getting the mail or receiving a service from any other government monopoly. The point is that the traffic delay and the airplane delay are usually just as much caused by government action or inaction as is the train delay. The construction on the road, the number of runways, the bridge stuck in the upright position: these are all reflections of government spending and priorities. And they are just as common as delays on Amtrak, in my experience.
Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe people do vow never to drive again, and I'm just not in the car with them when they do. Or maybe they vow not to fly again, but they don't say so out loud for fear of being Tasered by a stewardess.
I have been on many delayed trains in my life. The worst was 8+ hours from Chicago to Cleveland, when a derailment ahead forced us on to a 10 mph alternate route. So 2 hours is not a big deal to me. It was good in that I actually managed to write most of the paper I am supposed to give next month, which is due to the commenter on Monday.
But train delays force you to listen to the cell phone calls of surrounding ninnies. (Every cell phone call you ever overhear, btw, has the following pattern: "Yeah, I'm on a cell phone... I'm in/at ______." Somehow it's always completely necessary to explain where you are and to add that you're on a cell phone, as though the other person can't tell that. I don't know why this annoys me, but it does.) Usually people on the Acela talk about incomprehensible business things, work orders and deliverables and so on. Last night it was some guy yammering to what I think was his parole officer. ("Yes, officer, I'm on a train. We'll be stopped here for hours, officer.")
Anyway, it is a requirement, if you are on a stopped train, and you call someone on a cell phone, to say something like this;
"Yeah, I can't believe this train. It's been here for hours. This is the last time I ride the train. I am never taking Amtrak again!"
I can't tell you how many times I have heard idiots saying this. Let's set aside the fact that if you are sitting in your car for two hours -- as I did on the approaches to and from the Tappan Zee Bridge on Sunday -- or if you are stuck on a plane on an approach for takeoff -- as I have been many times -- you can't get up and walk around, go to the bathroom, get a cup of coffee, and so on.
But when you are doing those things, are you going to then say, "I will never fly again" or "I will never drive again"? It doesn't make sense on any level, because you really have no more freedom of conveyance on any given mode of transit. For car, plane, and train, you probably have, what, about a 75% to 90% chance of getting where you want to go on time. (Unless you're driving in rush hour, which people seem not to mind for some reason.)
So surely this response has something to do with Amtrak being seen as Big Government and people feel Oppressed by the Man when riding the train the same way they do when getting the mail or receiving a service from any other government monopoly. The point is that the traffic delay and the airplane delay are usually just as much caused by government action or inaction as is the train delay. The construction on the road, the number of runways, the bridge stuck in the upright position: these are all reflections of government spending and priorities. And they are just as common as delays on Amtrak, in my experience.
Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe people do vow never to drive again, and I'm just not in the car with them when they do. Or maybe they vow not to fly again, but they don't say so out loud for fear of being Tasered by a stewardess.
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no subject
Date: 2004-09-22 07:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-23 02:29 am (UTC)The worst cell phone conversation of that sort I've ever heard was on a bus. It was election day, and the guy sitting in front of me was explaining to the person he was calling that he was currently at an election party. Which was confusing, because I could plainly see that he was on a bus. :P
sssshhhh...
Date: 2004-09-23 12:48 pm (UTC)Re: sssshhhh...
Date: 2004-09-23 02:55 pm (UTC)