Tuesday Picture of the Day

Comes from Wilson, North Carolina and kind sums up a day that involved way too much waiting around for my liking. Not sure that you are allowed to sell these let alone advertise that you have them.

The train leaving Durham was late, the train connection in Wilson was two hours late and it was not until 7pm we started to make back some of that time as the weather was too hot and therefore the trains are on a go slow in the heat of the day. I once heard an irate passenger complain that there was no point taking Amtrak if you wanted to arrive near the correct time and that the timetable was wishful thinking of the highest degree. Despite this there are several reasons I like travelling this way rather than flying

1. You get to see places that otherwise I would go nowhere near. I suspect the train only stops there as it happens to be in the way. Florence is less spectacular than the Italian version and Dillon has no buildings over two stories

2. The strong family links which had people waiting hours to meet loved ones who eventually arrive or depart.

3. The unintentional comedy of watching a very noisy group miss the 5 minute warning of a station approaching and then take so long to get themselves and the huge pile of luggage off that the train was moving again and they had to wait to the next station. Oh and as there is one train a day I have no idea what they are going to do in Fayetteville but it looked large enough to have a hotel and maybe car rental.

4. The ingrained nature of tobacco in North Carolina that depsite running late the whole train had to wait while the crew had a cigarette

5. The guard collecting take out from a station, presumably he rung them up and ordered on the way through

6. Get to see the landscape both urban and rural.

7. Chatting to people along the way.

Should get some good photos tomorrow. Being picked up and driven to the start of a walking tour in the morning which conveys a certain sense of irony.