The commute is perhaps one of the nicest things about my working life. That's not something you hear everyday, is it? The train journey from Westbury to Bath, especially in the early mornings is dreamy. It encompasses rolling green fields, misty valleys and quaint villages made of Bath stone that glow in the early morning sunshine.
I like to sit by the window, head angled against the glass. From this vantage I can watch the rails go past, great long silver snakes that are constant agaist the blur of the landscape. They connect me with home, and connect me with work and don't change wherever I go.
Trains are one of my favourite forms of transport. They hold memories for me. The first I remember is going to Southampton with my mother, to stay with my grandparents. There's a new label on my rucksack that I make my mother read to me. It has my adress on it, and it's in it gets lost. I remember the ribena we bought in cartons from the refreshments trolley, and me being adament I had to give my own ticket to the conductor, not my mother.
Other memories encompass those shopping trips you'd take with friends in the summer holidays, buying pittance but loveing the excitement of being teenagers out without parents. Then come the one where I'd be snuggled in someone's lap on the way home from the cinema. Then the most recent, the glimmering journeys to Southampton, full of books and learning and interesting conversations with my fellow passengers.
I love travelling on the train when I went to Holland with my family. We travelled from Wassenaar to Amsterdam on a double decker tilty train that was clean and fast and puctual and oh - so - cheap! I look forward to the trip from the airport to Centraal Station when Chris and I go to Amsterdam, even though it's a notorius journey for thieves. I shall sit on my bag and refuse to be distracted by knocks on the window and my fellow passengers. I shall even ignore you, Chris, and breathe in that train carriage smell and make a new train memory to add to all my others.
Of course, another nice things baout trains is the fact that they provide nice mindless, empty time for knitting. My cushion cover is coming on well, I am about 1/3 through the back, and debating closures. I think I might make it longer than half of the front and make and envelope type closure to slip the cushion pad through.
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