Friday, June 04, 2010
Re-railed
I took the Amtrak back to Quincy again last night. My grandmother is back in the hospital and I wanted to do whatever little bit I could to entertain her, which I think is probably not much. In fact, she can't really hear very well right now due to her illness, so mainly I can just smile and nod and write her little notes. But I think she's happy to have me here, which is what matters.
Anyway, the Amtrak -- wow. I was lucky to be on a train with an entire troop of girl scouts. And the thing about girl scouts is that they absolutely love to sit quietly and not disturb other passengers. I had to pass through them like a gauntlet on my way to the bathroom, and I found myself wondering if they were making fun of my work clothes. Then there were the two middle aged ladies sitting next to me, who played the card game speed for the full four and a half hours of the trip. (One of them actually kept squealing "God, I love speed!" without any sense of irony.) And maybe they were on speed as well, because they found the whole thing to be uproariously funny. They were squealing and calling each other "you nut." It made me want to toss an Us Weekly among them and run for cover.
Also, I grabbed dinner from Burrito Beach on my way to the train. Word to the wise: never eat burrito beach before getting on a train.
I took the Amtrak back to Quincy again last night. My grandmother is back in the hospital and I wanted to do whatever little bit I could to entertain her, which I think is probably not much. In fact, she can't really hear very well right now due to her illness, so mainly I can just smile and nod and write her little notes. But I think she's happy to have me here, which is what matters.
Anyway, the Amtrak -- wow. I was lucky to be on a train with an entire troop of girl scouts. And the thing about girl scouts is that they absolutely love to sit quietly and not disturb other passengers. I had to pass through them like a gauntlet on my way to the bathroom, and I found myself wondering if they were making fun of my work clothes. Then there were the two middle aged ladies sitting next to me, who played the card game speed for the full four and a half hours of the trip. (One of them actually kept squealing "God, I love speed!" without any sense of irony.) And maybe they were on speed as well, because they found the whole thing to be uproariously funny. They were squealing and calling each other "you nut." It made me want to toss an Us Weekly among them and run for cover.
Also, I grabbed dinner from Burrito Beach on my way to the train. Word to the wise: never eat burrito beach before getting on a train.
