Train Observations

I've realized that lots of things happen on trains. There is so much to look at and observe on a train that it could literally occupy you (well me at least) for the entire ride and sometimes it does.

Metra has created this whole quiet car concept. At first I thought it was absolutely ridiculous. Until schools unleashed their rowdy teenagers. And they have to get to the beach somehow with their other 15+ friends, so the Metra is their best bet. Consequently, they create noise. And lots of it. The quiet cars are the second car from each end. In these cars, you are not supposed to talk, listen to music loudly, or use any electronic that creates noise. Instead, you sit there quietly and read a book (Imagine THAT!) or just sit and relax. I must admit, in the morning this concept is perhaps useless, as 95% of passengers are either asleep, drinking coffee, or reading the newspaper. In the afternoon however, I can't imagine how nice the quiet cars would be. Usually I'm the lucky one sitting right in front of kids who are practically yelling to their friend who's sitting right next to them and trying to be the champion of who can use the word "like" as many times in one sentence. I'll tell you what, I am so relieved every afternoon when I get off the train. Maybe I should try the quiet cars....

Yesterday morning there was a huge storm. So huge that power lines decided to give up hanging between two poles and lay on the ground instead (they'd had enough!). Well this would be fine if they hadn't decided to lay across the railroad tracks. This created problems for the trains. We stopped right before them and waited for a half hour for the power company to show up. Another half hour was spent removing the lines. When we were finally moving again, I expected people to cheer, or a "woo-hoo!" or a FINALLY! But no....nothing. Apparently their used to these random delays around here. As we started up again the conductor warned us not to look at the bright lights because we could go blind and have spasms. Welp...nothing like a little electrocution with some blindness and spasms to jump start your morning!

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting in front of a lady who was reading music. This always amazes me because I have no musical talent at all and reading music is just so foreign to me. She was flipping through her many pages and then she stopped on one. I looked over the seat to take a glimpse of this crazy literature and at the top of the page, I saw the song was named "Be Happy" (or something to do with happy...) It struck me so much that I wanted a picture and tried to snap a shot using my ipod Touch with no such luck. Listening to music always makes me happy and seeing the name of this song just made me even happier!

If you just take a little time to look around and enjoy the moment, you'll see SO many more things and enjoy more in the end. So slow down and take a look around for a bit.