The Trains of Wrath

 Saturday 26th September 2009
 

AM

Least: As I punched in at work at exactly 10:43am, I noticed that the same time had appeared no less that three times in the past month. It seems that my routine from my doorstep to work has become deeply entrenched. Even though I often browse in the Lawson convenience before I ride the lift to work on the  sixth floor the time somehow remains the same. Maybe next week, I should try the coffee at Mr Donut on the first floor.

Most: At 9:13am, I once again boarded the train at Tezukayama on my weekly pilrimage to Wakayama. Many of the same characters were sitting in the carriage and I decided to disappear using my Ipod and copy of Grapes of Wrath. Even though, I've crawled through the Steinbeck classic, today I just couldn'd put it down. As well as providing an extra layer of personal space protection, it is a cracking read. Even drifting down train lines in Japan, I still felt as if I was part of the book being pushed from place to place in search of work with wages ever lowering. I must've been on commuter autopilot because when I looked up I was stepping onto the platform at Wakayama.

PM

Least: At nearly 5:50pm the so-called Kishuji Rapid service speaker told everyone to leave the train at the impossibly remote Hineno station. I imagine that there had been some sort of trouble down the line towards Tennoji and that the delays meant a radical rethinking of train times and my trip home. I followed the hurrying crowd onto another platform, only to have to turn around a minute later to return to the platform from which the hundreds of people had just evacuated. To make the trip more boring, I underwent the indignity of catching a bluer than blue local train (above)  back to Mikunigaoka which meant stopping at every station. Despite the apparent efficency of the rail network, a blip can mean chaos.

Most: After 9:00pm, I sat down to watch the first episode of X-Files. It was amazing to see how dated the show was in terms of fashion and production. Even the SWAT team looked as if it had just left the set of the A-Team. Still, it was pretty enjoyable even after all this time even though it was weirdly streched on our huge screen. It will be a real journey to trawl back through every episode. Once again the internet saves the day.