Error 404

I left my laptop at the train station. Not the good one filled with important documents and my best work, I left my company laptop.  I realized as the train made it to it's next stop. With no attempt at nonchalance I jumped up and raced out of the car.  Once on the strange platform I spun in circles.  I had no idea in which direction I needed to go to catch a train headed back the other way and apparently circles was the move my brain decided to execute. 

Commuting with Nature

Air supremacy has long since been something that humans have strived for.  Inherently relegated to the ground we, as a species, were not meant to inhabit the skies and yet there we are. Technology has allowed us to conquer our natural shortcomings and travel, communicate, and fight with each other far above land, sea, and even Earth’s atmosphere.  It is when we are removed from these technologies and faced with something inherently capable of flight, something armored by nature to rule the skies, that we realize how woefully ill-equipped we are. 

In Queue

Trains are fast. They are also much bigger than you. As a result it is good general practice to avoid standing in front of them. To minimize the risk of these behemoths thundering across civilization there are loud whistles aboard and designated stations with gates and fences. There are conductors and engineers who diligently monitor passenger safety, train speeds and the tracks ahead. There are people remotely coordinating train routes, even rerouting them when necessary. The safety precautions and procedures in place are more far reaching than many notice and trains are, as a result, one of the safest ways to make it from A to B daily.  Despite these substantial precautions one must still, as always, leave a margin for human error during the commute.

Warning Signs: The Ballad of Charlie Darwin

             Watch gap between train and platform, do not exit moving train, automatic door, keep feet off seats, brake for emergency use only, emergency exit. All inarguably good advice wrapped in candy cane patterns of eye catching red; a truly inspired design as the same person who might attempt to step off a moving train might just as easily miss a less apparent sign.  Better for the sign-smith to take the extra care, really pay attention.

Leverage

Reading the news is a staple in the commuter’s daily routine. A good article with that first cup of caffeine can brighten your mood and ignite your mind.  This morning I read a particularly fascinating article about something that’s possibly definitely been plaguing the world for years maybe.  At this point we’re like 99.99% sure that we’ll be sure soon that it’s a problem, definitely a big problem too, not just like one of those small potentially probable problems.  Yes, global warming is still out there and the discussion about it is almost getting to the point where it might start getting somewhere like really soon.

Quarantine

There is a perpetual sense of solitude that takes hold of you during the commute.  You’re surrounded by people but you feel oddly removed from everything around you.  They have nothing to do with you nor do you have anything to do with them.  Each person commutes within the comfortable confines of his or her own reality.  It is a world in which no others exist until the moment your solitude is shattered by the rogue reality of another.

Slip N' Slide

A canopy of umbrellas shields the concrete jungle from a rainy day.  Each falling drop joins the groundwater army collectively turning the walking commute into an escape from the temple of doom.  Puddles can be an inch or a foot deep but only hindsight can make that destinction.  Tidal waves rush over curbs and into your shoes leaving you yearning for fresh socks.  You curse the wind as it furiously blows the flying water under your umbrella and straight onto your once dry pants.