The happy place

One funny experience was last Friday right after my last post was that the train stopped due to a malfunctioning power line between two stations and came to a halt.

The train could progress no further. A similar situation was also true for a southbound train stuck on the other side of the broken power line some distance away. The solution was that they cleverly decided to shuttle all passengers from one train to the other and vice versa and then to reverse the trains directions in a big swap of sorts.

Most people were pretty chill about the whole thing and it's the type of experience which serves as an ice breaker to invite some pleasant small talk.

Others were very angry but seemed able to handle their disappointment after having gotten a müsli bar.

Still others, dressed like project managers with budget responsibilities, were pointlessly berating the train crew, claiming it unacceptable with the delay and pointing out that all people now delayes as a matter of fact had better things to do and functions to fill in society and so forth.

I am sure the train crew now thankfully enlightened will ensure that from now on, no power lines will ever fail between stations again.

Anyway, in stations like this, you get a glimpse of their lives then. Some interesting tidbits from strangers, like this one guy who was eager to tell everyone that he was just back from Minneapolis and was already late due to some mishap with the luggage belt on the airport. He had packed his luggage full of craft beers and was wearing maximum amount of his thickest clothes as a trick to maximize the check in weight. I can imagine that such a trick allowed him to import one extra beer bottle without paying extra for excess weight. Having been a travelling consultant it's a trick in well familiar with except I never checked in any baggage unless the trip was super long, because then I'd not have to ever wait for any luggage.

Anyhow.

The funny thing to me was how for all his thick clothes, he wore nothing underneath his hoodie and thus felt unable to strip and therefore was super sweaty in the late summer heat.

That was interesting. He was also looking at pictures of craft beers I saw when I peeked at his laptop screen later when we were on that new train finally moving once more.

Other people were super friendly also and I even got offered a ride home for the final leg of the trip, which I accepted thankfully and got to know them a little bit: they were planning to bake a large amount of raspberry pies. (Not the computer; the actual pies.)

Of course this is all anecdotal, but that it was the project managers who was the most disappointed and inclined to lecture people about things over which they have no control to me was not surprising at all.