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Platform 9 3/4
15/10/2022 10:00 pmSince 1st May this year, I have gotten back in the habit of saving Sundays for planting and pottering in the garden. Officially I stop planting my pretty leaf babies after the spring equinox but of course rules are made to be broken.
I am slowly getting back into the routine of automating an assortment of habits and gardening is the first cab off the rank.
But I made an exception for last Sunday since it was the so called 'soft' opening of the new train line to the airport.
The last time a new train line opened in the city was back on Sunday 23rd December 2007. Aside from the fact that I was working that afternoon, it was a sizzling >38 degree day so I probably would not have stuck my nose out the door if I had the day off.
So I was definitely not going to miss out this time.
So I switched my gardening day to Saturday instead.
Since the new train would be departing from Platform 9 in the city, I figured it was the perfect occasion to use my Hogwarts shopping bag and get all snaked up for the big day. That included a green, black and grey checkered scarf and the gorgeous green Slytherin hat which was a gift from the Cat many moons ago back in 2004.
When I got to the station I saw a train going to the airport from platform 8. It was full of people like sardines packed tightly in a tin so I gave it a miss and waited for the next one from Platform 9 which turned out to be an express train.
I sat in the front carriage which was pretty much empty until the first new stop. A crowd of rowdy basketball supporters got on. They were extremely noisy and rather drunk. So I got out my earplugs for a bit of the peace and quiet that I had enjoyed previously.
I adopted the strategy of going to the last station on the line and then hopping to the other two the second of which was the actual airport itself.
I really don't know what got into me. In honour of the new line, all public transport was free for the day.
I had decided not to go to a street party on a nearby train line like I had originally planned. Scitech had a guest stall with an assortment of geeky presentations. But I figured it best to stay away as there would be so many kids there.
But I jumped from the frying pan into the fire. At every single one of the new stations as well as on the trains themselves, it was like Daycare Day Out. It seemed like every single kid in the city had come out to play with all the attendant squealing, screaming and crawling Chaos.
The last station on the line had free face painting and a pop up Old McDonalds Farm so it was a veritable kid magnet.
In spite of wearing ear plugs, I still could not filter out the noise and chaos so it did not take long to end up in jittery constant vigilance mode.
When it was time to go home, the trains to the city were so crowded that I resorted to catching the train in the other direction to the end of the line and then just staying in my seat and waiting for it to return to the city. That was the only way to guarantee I got a good seat. Or any seat at all.
While it was fascinating to see the new stations and to check out the times of some of the new bus routes, it was simply exhausting. Total sensory overload.
I did pay another visit a few days later and tried out some of the bright shiny new bus routes.
Often I used to randomly hop on buses to see where they go but learned very quickly to stick to those with a final destination at a train station so that it would drastically reduce the chances of getting stranded.
I think there must be at least 12 new routes to choose from now. So far I have tried 2 of them. One goes past the plant nursery where I volunteer on Fridays. That is a lovely scenic tour. The other I tried goes through a bunch of industrial areas. Very boring. I will not be back for another trip.
I am slowly getting back into the routine of automating an assortment of habits and gardening is the first cab off the rank.
But I made an exception for last Sunday since it was the so called 'soft' opening of the new train line to the airport.
The last time a new train line opened in the city was back on Sunday 23rd December 2007. Aside from the fact that I was working that afternoon, it was a sizzling >38 degree day so I probably would not have stuck my nose out the door if I had the day off.
So I was definitely not going to miss out this time.
So I switched my gardening day to Saturday instead.
Since the new train would be departing from Platform 9 in the city, I figured it was the perfect occasion to use my Hogwarts shopping bag and get all snaked up for the big day. That included a green, black and grey checkered scarf and the gorgeous green Slytherin hat which was a gift from the Cat many moons ago back in 2004.
When I got to the station I saw a train going to the airport from platform 8. It was full of people like sardines packed tightly in a tin so I gave it a miss and waited for the next one from Platform 9 which turned out to be an express train.
I sat in the front carriage which was pretty much empty until the first new stop. A crowd of rowdy basketball supporters got on. They were extremely noisy and rather drunk. So I got out my earplugs for a bit of the peace and quiet that I had enjoyed previously.
I adopted the strategy of going to the last station on the line and then hopping to the other two the second of which was the actual airport itself.
I really don't know what got into me. In honour of the new line, all public transport was free for the day.
I had decided not to go to a street party on a nearby train line like I had originally planned. Scitech had a guest stall with an assortment of geeky presentations. But I figured it best to stay away as there would be so many kids there.
But I jumped from the frying pan into the fire. At every single one of the new stations as well as on the trains themselves, it was like Daycare Day Out. It seemed like every single kid in the city had come out to play with all the attendant squealing, screaming and crawling Chaos.
The last station on the line had free face painting and a pop up Old McDonalds Farm so it was a veritable kid magnet.
In spite of wearing ear plugs, I still could not filter out the noise and chaos so it did not take long to end up in jittery constant vigilance mode.
When it was time to go home, the trains to the city were so crowded that I resorted to catching the train in the other direction to the end of the line and then just staying in my seat and waiting for it to return to the city. That was the only way to guarantee I got a good seat. Or any seat at all.
While it was fascinating to see the new stations and to check out the times of some of the new bus routes, it was simply exhausting. Total sensory overload.
I did pay another visit a few days later and tried out some of the bright shiny new bus routes.
Often I used to randomly hop on buses to see where they go but learned very quickly to stick to those with a final destination at a train station so that it would drastically reduce the chances of getting stranded.
I think there must be at least 12 new routes to choose from now. So far I have tried 2 of them. One goes past the plant nursery where I volunteer on Fridays. That is a lovely scenic tour. The other I tried goes through a bunch of industrial areas. Very boring. I will not be back for another trip.
