Harry Potter And The Irritating BritRail

That Sound You Hear? » Seven Nights In Eire by Reckless Kelly
Days of NHL Lockout » 206
Big News » Yahoo is reporting that John Kerry said voters in last year's election were denied access to polls through trickery and intimidation. Liz said it perfectly: "Let it go, man."

Now, today's story...

First of all, let me just say that contrary to what the title may have you believe, this post has absolutely nothing to do with Harry Potter. I simply thought it would be funny and/or clever. I've made room for the possibility that it's neither.

I got to thinking about my UK trip in 2000 today. It could've been spurred on by the aforementioned Ireland song I keep playing over and over. One never knows.

Five years ago this summer I spent three weeks roaming the British Isles, just taking it all in. I have pictures, however haven't quite been able to locate them. I assure you that when I do you will be among the very first people to see them — whether you want to or not.

So I was thinking about the train rides. We'd ride for hours at a time from one end of the island to another. The view was usually beautiful. But every now and then, we'd have a wrench thrown into things.

Once on the way to Fort William, we were stopped at a station that we had apparently hit ahead of schedule. The driver announced that we had ten minutes before it was time to leave. So Tim and Jeff decided not to wait around. They headed over to a nearby gift shop. No more than three minutes after that, the doors shut and the train starts down the tracks. Yeah, they got left at the store. It was six hours before we saw them again. They showed up at the hostel loaded down with more crap than-- well, you get the idea.

But they actually enjoyed their day. About a week later in Wales, a few of us had gone into town, why I can't remember. Doesn't matter. But it was late at night and the winos were drinking themselves into comas everywhere including our train. This one guy (who may or may not have been dead) was just laying there against the door keeping it from opening once we hit our station. Clearly, he wasn't moving so we ran to the next door at the other end of the car... just as it was closing.

We had to wait for the next station which, by the way, was completely empty. We managed to find one guy on the late night shift who called a taxi for us. It was 2 A.M. and that was the longest and most expensive cab ride of my life. We made it back to the Welsh hostel poorer for our troubles just as the sun was beginning to peek over the Atlantic horizon. How fun for us.

The other train story had to do with a packed Underground subway on a Monday morning in London. Suffice to say that I stood alone on the platform watching everybody I was with slide on down the tracks. I thought it was pretty funny. Can't say everyone else did.

Nightcap: I would just like to send a shout-out to all those red lights out there that turn green the very moment my car comes to a complete stop. Without you, my brakes would never get the workout they so richly deserve.