Europe 2001: A Travelogue
A Commuter's Tale, or, How I Spend One-Tenth of My Day
Eurodiary, 10 September 2001, 20:38 (8:38 p.m.)
Warning: whining follows. To skip to the good stuff (post-whine), click here.
You know, work is really getting in the way of my enjoyment of this experience...
No, I take that back. Commuting two and a half hours a day... THAT is getting in the way of my enjoyment. Since I want to take Fridays off, in part or in whole, I end up working up to 10 hours a day Monday through Wednesday. Which in and of itself wouldn't be so bad, except I have that commute... Which is what I'm doing right now, as I type on my Palm Vx handheld.
(On the other hand, there's a nice bum playing the guitar at the other end of the car, so at least I get some entertainment...)
But I'm sure you aren't reading this Eurodiary to hear me kvetch. There are plenty of positives -- you just caught me at a bad time. (I wanted to write at lunch, but I ate with my coworkers again, and then I had to get back to work.)
But I guess that's the sacrifice one makes to be able to take advantage of weekends in Amsterdam and Paris and such. And this weekend was quite fun... Oops, gotta run.
OK, slight intermission there; the train finally arrived in R-dam last night, so I had to go. On the plus side, though, I got a good night's sleep and awoke in time to see a beautiful sunrise this morning -- golden light, puffy clouds, blue sky... For a minute I couldn't figure out where I was!
But now I'm waiting for the arrival of the Intercity train to Amsterdam, which stops in Den Haag and Leiden. (It's about 10 minutes late.)
Unfortunately, unlike yesterday morning, I don't have my camera with me, so the best I can show you is a more typical, rainy-day pic that I took yesterday.
(Then again, I wouldn't be able to get any train pix today, as it's SRO! ... Too bad I don't look old, infirm, or pregnant enough to be offered a seat.)
By the way, for those who knew I was getting a haircut, here's your first picture of me, taken last Tuesday (while I was still jet lagged), with the new cut. Why I decided to get bangs (fringe) just as I was going to Europe, where NO one has bangs, I don't know. Whim. But I like them, even if they do make me look 5 years younger and unquestionably American...
I initially intended to focus this Eurodiary entry on our weekend in Amsterdam, but I think I'll wait on that, particularly since I'll be getting my pix back tomorrow -- might as well do a show and tell then.
Today is the first day I've experienced an SRO train, and it's also the earliest I've gotten to the station. Coincidence? I think not.
The idea was that, instead of arriving at 9:30 a.m., if I could arrive at 8:30, I could get work 10 hours and leave earlier. But with so many Hague commuters, perhaps that's not the wisest idea. (Now that we reached the Hague, I have a seat. Thank heaven for small miracles -- there are still people standing nearer the train doors, one of whom appears to be smoking, shall we say, a less-than-traditional cigarette).
My commute through Holland can be a nice one, complaints notwithstanding. The green fields are nice; I pass a few windmills -- though they're urban, not sitting in the middle of pastures; and the graffiti is colorful -- and pervasive, though I haven't seen any defaced cows... yet...
Once I arrive in Leiden, my walk takes me past the bike lock-up area (notice how it looks even on a rainy day), under a bridge (actually, I think it's under the railroad station tracks), and then on a shortcut through the parking lot of the Leiden University Medical Center. (The shortcut is a forced one, as there's construction taking place on the regular route.) After exiting the parking lot, I walk along a sidewalk with a bike path on my left and a canal on my right, cross the street (where I see the rhinos I mentioned a few days ago), and then continue on the sidewalk along another canal. There must be a heron rookery there, because I've seen a few blue herons along my walk.
The end of the walk takes me past the Ariane 5 Engine, and I turn right at a small yellow footbridge to cross the heron canal (as I call it). The Fokker Space Building is on the left, and in I go.
In all, it's a fine commute, as long as it's not raining (or, not too hard). And today it was lovely.
But now I'm at work, finishing up this entry, and I should be working (and making use of the early morning arrival). I guess in a way I am making use of the wee morning hours (no one shows up here until 9:30 anyway -- probably a side effect of the commute). At least I feel I've accomplished something.
I feel kinda bad because Mom and Dad and Mom and Dad have each sent us cards and stuff, and all we've done is write these journal entries. We did buy postcards on our arrival in Rotterdam … but we haven't sent them yet. We will, eventually. (We keep forgetting to buy stamps.)
Anyway, as impersonal (or, as indirectly personal) as this journal is, I hope you all understand and forgive us our postal trespasses. We do love and miss you, and you will hear from us personally. Someday.
For now, however, have a great day, and we'll try to write more tomorrow! (I think it's Adam's turn to tell you about his classes and classmates, but we'll see.)
If you got here because you clicked on the link above, where it said I'd stop whining eventually, then you deserve to have missed this entry. Just kidding! Actually, the whining ended shortly after it began, but if you still want to skip it, click here.