January 15, 2004
Confessions of a Commuter
"Thursdays, I never could get the hang of Thursdays." I think I've heard that line somewhere before.
Yes, today is Thursday. And this morning, having made it out of bed, through the shower, breakfast and drive to the station routine, I was waiting for the 7:36am train on Gosford station.
Now the 7:36 is a special train. It's the last peak-hour Tangara train that travels down the North Shore line, allowing us Central Coast commuters who work in the Sydney CBD to make one trip (otherwise it's a country train to Central before changing to a suburban train for the last stop or two).
And the Tangaras that make the journey from the Central Coast are usually special Tangaras, or at least half so.
How? Well, if we're lucky... and we usually are... they will have "comfy" seats. Seats with extra padding and a higher back so that one can slouch into a sleeping position. Very desirable for commuters, especially towards the end of a working week.
Sometimes these Tangaras can be "half special". The front set of carriages may have comfy seats whereas the back set have disappointing moulded seats that are OK for short trips but definitely inferior for trips of over an hour where the occupant is looking to catch up on some much needed zeds. These "half special" Tangaras seem to have become more frequent lately.
Now here's where my confession comes in. Being a savvy commuter, I've noticed that the carriages with comfy seats have a distinctive orange panel on the front. So I've become habituated to waiting somewhere in the middle of the platform looking for the incoming train. If I see that orange panel I think to myself "bewdy" and walk to the front half of the platform. If it's a plain dark panel at the front all is not lost. There's always the chance it's a "half special" with the comfy seats at the back. So I walk towards the back half of the platform, anxiously keeping an eye out for the back half of the train.
This morning was one where my hopes of a comfy seat were unfortunately short lived. No "special", not even a "half special".
"Bugger!", I thought to myself. "That snooze will have to wait."
Posted to Personal by Keith Pitty