Once again, Linda G. Hill is tempting me with magical bonus points. I can’t resist. We’re heading to the bar to work with her Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt:
“Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is ‘T, tea, tee.’ Theme your post around ‘tea’ or ‘tee,’ or find a word that starts with ‘T’ and talk about that. Bonus points if you manage to incorporate all three. Enjoy!”
If we were having a beer, we would have a surprise visitor.
“You’re late, again. Did you come by train or Lime Bike?”
“Funny man. I drove, but I’ve been stripping shingles off my garage, so I left a little late.”
“Forget to set an alarm on your phone?”
“No, but I thought I’d shower before joining you.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that, Dan. The lingering odor of every beer poured is bad enough, I don’t need to smell sweaty roofers. Now, can I get you something cool to drink?”
“I’ll have a Corona, and whatever my friend wants.”
“His friend will have a glass of Meiomi.”
“With a some seltzer in a snifter?”
“Of course.”
“Excuse me, do you mind if I ask you a question?”
“Sure, and you would be?”
“My name is Sharukh. I’ve here for a visit, trying to promote my Travel blog.”
“It’s nice to meet you Sharukh.”
“Here’s your beer, your wine, and water.”
“Water?”
“I meant seltzer.”
“Thanks Cheryl, and please give our new friend, Sharukh another round on us.”
“Us? How did I become part of your generosity?”
“The royal ‘us’ – don’t worry, I have the tab.”
“Thank you. I was planning to switch to tea, but I’ll have another Heineken.”
“Heineken, coming up.”
“Thank you…your name is Cheryl?”
“Yes.”
“So, what was it you wanted to ask us, Sharukh?”
“You were talking earlier about trains. I was watching a video on Amtrak where the narrator said that Amtrak trains are usually never on time. He said Amtrak has the punctuality rating of just 31%.”
“Ah, you need to talk to Dan about that. I have to say, you’re teeing up his favorite subject.”
“You don’t take the trains?”
“I prefer flying, and my airline has a good on-time rating.”
“Enough already. My experience with Amtrak has been pretty good. And, it’s not fair to compare Amtrak, or any train, to an airline.”
“Why not?”
“Yes, I would be interested in that, also.”
“Planes depart and arrive one time per trip. They can fudge the departure time, by pushing back from the gate, and they can fudge the arrival a bit, by flying faster.”
“How is that not like trains?”
“Trains have multiple departures and arrivals. I take Amtrak to Washington, D.C. and there are eighteen to twenty station stops. And, my last trip was six minutes late. Six minutes on a six-hour ride. I call that on-time.”
“Well, they could go faster.”
“Not by much. Besides, sometimes they’re late because other trains are late. There’s room in the sky for thousands of planes, there are only two tracks between here and New Haven,”
“Can you pull this conversation onto a siding long enough to order some food?”
“I’m still a little full from breakfast, Cheryl, but I might take some wings to go.”
“OK. But you’re thirsty, right…I mean, you want another round.”
“Yes, yes I am, I mean do.”
“Where did you have breakfast?”
“Allegro.”
“Damn, why don’t you ever call me to go there?”
“I met John for breakfast at ten of seven. Would have welcomed that call?”
“No, but call me if you ever meet him at nine o’clock.”
“Can I ask one more question?”
“Sure, Sharukh.”
“Is it about trains?”
“Yes.”
“Well, if you ever have a question about financial management, I can answer it. I’ll hand you off to the conductor.”
“The video also said that after getting off a train one has to take another mode of transport to reach the destination which is why most Americans prefer car or plane over train.”
“This is an easy one. Most Americans don’t want to go to the trouble to figure out a city’s subway or light rail system, let alone its bus routes, but you don’t need a car unless you have a lot of travel to do in your destination city.”
“I’m not sure I agree with that. I don’t want you giving Sharukh bad information.”
“OK, take the Northeast Corridor: Boston, Providence, New York, Newark, Trenton, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore and DC all have light rail options, and The Hartford Line is real and rolling.”
“Have you used these options?”
“I have Sharukh. I’ve taken the NY Subway, The T in Boston, Metro in DC and the light rail in Baltimore and Philadelphia.”
“So why do people prefer to drive?”
“For the convenience.”
“Now, you’re the one giving bad information. In cities that are served by rail, the convenience of driving is a myth.”
“I know, even if you have to take a Lime Bike to your destination.”
“Yes, that option suits me to a T.”
Today’s gallery has some updates from the garage project, and some photos I borrowed from the Editor’s camera. And, if you want to see some cute short videos, check out Cheryl’s post from Wednesday.
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