Commuting

The Commute

One afternoon at man with strong tendencies towards being both grumpy and disdainful sat down in a train after a day at work that had been much too long. He had been on a very low calorie diet for a few weeks to shed some weight although he was, to most who gazed upon him, already a very attractive man. The diet, the long day at work and the lateness of the day had taken some strain on him. You might say it had enhanced his pre existing condition or gift to be able to find something very wrong with anyone and anything crossing his path. His goal was a quiet train ride with his coffee and HBO on his trusted, well used and recently lost but now returned iPad Mini.

It was to be a relaxing trip on a train that is mostly half empty.

He found a seat alone on the train. In his country the trains have a table surrounded by four seats. He was happily alone at the table and got himself ready for the pleasant wind down of the moving train, the coffee in his thermos cup and the headset blocking out most of the world. He got out his iPad and put it in the standing position in the well worn and perhaps increasingly disgusting cover. Before the dream of the pleasant train ride collapsed he had already connected it to the train WiFi.

The train filled up quickly which was unusual at this time. He didn't worry too much. Plenty of seats for strangers to sit down. Should the worst happen and someone chose to sit around the same table he had his earphones. Also, in his country people don't talk to each other on trains or buses. They sit quietly and mind their own business while praying every one else also adhere to the unspoken social contract, so the filling up of the train was not a major concern.

Two people did sit down at his table. A hippie type couple in their late sixties or early seventies. The man had a large beard and wore brown velvet pants and a knitted sweater in a design that looked Icelandic. The grumpy man was in a window seat and the couple sat down in the two aisle seats with the woman next him. She didn't remove her jacket so he had to guess what sort of hippie attire she wore underneath it. She did, however, wear some colourful pants in a stretch material that must have been of a very good quality.

The grumpy man was happy with his headphones.

Shortly after the train left the station they started talking very loudly. The man had a very animated voice and he was gesturing wildly and equally animated while speaking. They quickly pulled out two sandwiches. The wrapping showed where they were from: A classic sandwich place in the city of departure run by the sweet American lady Mary Ann with the cute accent and the X6 M BMW.

They quickly started discussing the sandwich which was wonderful. The bread was just perfect and the salmon couldn't have been better. The dressing really complimented it all and there was neither too much or too little of it. The tomatoes were so ripe and packed with flavour for the season. After their already wonderful trip to the big city it was fantastic to be able to sit there on this train and enjoy a meal like that. They did agree it wasn't restaurant food but how wonderful was it that you could pick up such a sandwich from such a nice place just outside the station at such a price. It was truly a perfect end to an already great day.

With the sandwich they each had a beer. And what a beer it was. This all took place in a very small country with so few national treasures that bland commercial lager is considered one of them. This was a product from the brewery producing the best selling lager in the country. The beer they had was their Raw edition as they named it. A slight alteration from their best seller. They both agreed it was a tremendous beer. The man told the wife that during his life he had drank a lot of that brand of beer (and duly reminded her that so had she) but this had something extra. He couldn't finger was it was and he couldn't describe the taste but something was there. It was just glorious. The woman did agree and she had a hard time putting it into words as well. Still, the exchange continued for a while with short interruptions to praise the sandwiches. The woman suddenly suggested the difference in the beer might have to do with it being unfiltered. The man asked her if she thought it was unfiltered. She confidently pointed to the can where it said unfiltered and confirmed this belief. They agreed that must be it.

Imagine that after such a perfect day you can sit down in such a nice train and enjoy a great sandwich and a nice unfiltered beer.

When they had finished the beer and the sandwich the grumpy man who had kept raising the volume level in his earphones imagined that two elderly people after a long day, a sandwich and a beer would quickly doze off into naps. He was to be disappointed.

The woman pulled out a small package of chocolates which they proceeded to share. The chocolate was just what they needed. They both agreed that in their younger days they had a love for rich dark chocolate but they couldn't stomach it today. This chocolate wasn't too rich but it also wasn't so bland that it didn't matter and they might as well not have had it. Imagine that after such a day, such a sandwich and that fantastic beer you could sit back on the nice train and enjoy a few pieces of just perfect chocolate.

The chocolate was soon gone and during their pause in eating the man found time to express how wonderful and lively he felt the little girl running up and down the aisle of the train with a toy lawnmower was. This day just kept getting better and better.

The woman took out a bag of potato chips which the grumpy man expected to be very good indeed and they were. They were so happy to have found this brand again as it had been a long time since they saw it last. It was their favourite brand and their favourite flavour of that brand.

Imagine sitting down on a nice train after a perfect day, eating such a sandwich, drinking such a beer, eating such chocolate, seeing a playing child and now eating a snack they had missed for such a long time.

The grumpy mans mind started drifting. The volume was on max but nothing helped. He started fantasising about a derailing of the train, a big beautiful train wreck and the soothing sound of bending metal, shattering glass and the fulfilling sound of the tortured screams of the hurt, maimed and bereaved.

He also knew, however, that after the initial sweet relief of the train wreck the two people would regain their composures and start praising the train wreck. What a beautiful train wreck. Imagine us getting to experience this on an already wonderful day. Look at the shape of the bent metal and the patterns of stains of blood in the beautiful white snow. God himself could not have created such shapes and patterns. Such luck that we got to experience a wreck like this with people like this.

The grumpy man abandoned his fantasies just as the train came to a halt at a small station while waiting for a go ahead signal. The lights at the station showed that quite bit of snow had fallen. The man exclaimed that if there was as much snow when they arrived at their station he would go out and jump in the snow and scream with joy.

The grumpy man hoped that his station was not their station and he would know in about 15 minutes. Finally, he was not disappointed. As the train arrived at his station he told the woman it was his stop and she got out of her seat to let him out.

The man said that he wanted to smoke his pipe for the few minutes the train was at the station so he would walk the grumpy man out.

Elderly men in Icelandic sweaters and velvet pants are not that quick though. While the man was still trying to put his shoes back on his feet and purple socks the grumpy man made a dash for it and escaped into the dark winter evening with the falling snow forming a thick curtain behind him.