I’m happy to report that all is going forward with our move and that my travel last week yielded a job and a place to live. However, on the train ride down to Southern California I realized something: A lot about me really sucks!
It was bad enough that it was going to take 29 hours to travel from Portland, OR to Los Angeles, CA via Amtrak, but on top of that the train departed two hours late. I was dreading the travel by rail, but due to lack of finances this was my best option. Standing in line to get my seat assignment I was dreading the trip even more by the sea of people waiting to check in on the same train as me. There were at least 300-350 people in line for the Coast Starlight and the thought of being crammed into a full rail car for a 29 hour ride was very disconcerting.
As I walked out to the train with my seat assignment in-hand, passengers were being directed to board different rail cars depending on where their final destination was. Figuring most people would be traveling to Los Angeles with me, I was amazed--and overjoyed--to see the train pull out of the stop in Portland with all the window seats taken, but almost every aisle seat vacant in our rail car. I felt all of my prayer for my personal comfort was being fulfilled. Two hours late in our departure, but not having to share an aisle with someone for the next 29 hours was really a relief…or so I thought.
After having settled into my seat and feeling like it might be time to try and take a nap, the train makes a scheduled stop in Salem (2 hours after our departure from Portland). Then, I begin to hear a voice getting louder as it is getting closer to me. Great--I think to myself! We’re taking on more passengers. This guy with a loud voice and a thick accent sits down next to me. He lands in his seat so hard that he bounces into me, almost as if he is making sure I know he is here to annoy me. As the conductor comes up the aisle to check for boarding passes from the new passengers, I turn my head to see how full the rail car is. You have no idea how pissed off I was to see that we took on just one passenger, and of all the vacant seats in the car, he gets assigned to sit next to me! To make matters worse, the conductor checks his boarding pass and says, “You’re actually supposed to be in the lower-level seating.” Whew, get this guy outta here (Silent prayers bombarding my God in thanksgiving for saving me again). Then, before I could even take a sigh of relief the conductor asks the guy next to me, “Do you want to move are you okay up here?” Of course, he decline and says he’s fine right where he’s at. Then the conductor heads off for the rail car in front of us. What the heck? Why me? I have to get rest and prepare for my job interview. I don’t need this.
So, I’m stewing in my seat angry at the world and disappointed that God has decided to rain on my parade and take away any peace I might experience for the duration of my trip. Then the guy next to me--in a loud, attention-getting voice--asks me, “apollo?” I reply that I don’t understand. He then points to the headrest on the back of his seat and points to the seatback of my chair, which happens to be reclined (remember, I was about to take a well-deserved nap just moments earlier) and then I think I figured it out. He’s speaking some foreign language where a word that sounds like apollo must mean the act of reclining. So, I point to the release lever that lets my seat recline, then point to where he can find them on his seat. He then immediately turns away, leans across the aisle to the other side of the rail car, and asks the guy in the window seat over there, “apollo?” Okay, I’m pretty peeved now! What’s apollo and why did you so rudely just turn away without so much as acknowledging my effort to be of assistance? A moment later the conductor comes back through our car and the guy next to me stops him: “Excuse me. Apollo?” The conductor replies, “What did you say? I didn’t hear you.” The guy next to me says it again, “apollo?” “Oh,” the conductor responds, “No pillows yet. I’ll bring those out a little later.”
[continue to the conclusion here]
Related posts:
