4-27, Friday

The Magic of Travel 

I made it back home again from Oklahoma City.  I changed planes in Atlanta on the way back and look at these people waiting for their connection in Atlanta.

Do these travelers look absolutely whipped or what?  Of course, this is 9 AM and probably everyone already took a flight to Atlanta.  Getting up at the crack of dawn to get through security, walking sideways down narrow plane aisles, squeezing into tiny seats, barely enough time to wolf down your biscottis before the attendants are back through whisking up your snack remains. Then you single-file your way off the plane and wait around on seats with no backs for the connecting flight and repeat the process over again.

Commuting Again

Well, I’ve decided I will take this job offer to work for a business downtown.  So my blog title is no longer entirely accurate. I have mixed feelings about it, I must say.  I am torn between the freedom and flexibility I’ve enjoyed over the past 5 months but I also realize that if I had taken on volunteer responsibilities I also would have lost some measure of the freedom I have now.

Luckily I don’t really need the salary but it will be a nice extra.  I can always leave should I find it intolerable.  My schedule will not always be Monday through Friday administrative hours so I’ll be able to do a lot of things that need to be done during the week.  I attracted by the return to the work world and reattachment to that world but ambivalent about the time commitment.  Well, I can always leave should I find myself longing for my current freedom.

I decided to check on the commute downtown.  I checked parking garages downtown and our Skyway, built with millions and millions of federal dollars but never quite caught on with the commuting public.

Here is the station by which I entered the Skyway system.  You’ll notice the jostling crowds.

But it is lovely and clean.

We stop at Central Station where the two routes join.  Here the commuter should expect to see many people, at this matrix of commuters.

No one here either — at Central Station. There were several riders loitering around, including a couple of kids who were supposed to be in school.

I get off here for the 4-minute walk to my job.  This is smack-dab in the middle of downtown. Surely, lots of people here.

Some people out in the plaza, a man sitting in his wheelchair. But no one else.

This route does provide some scenic vistas.  Here the train crosses the river, affording a very nice view of downtown.

Some elements of this ride are immune to my caustic comments.

On the way back to my car and out of downtown I did actually enter a car with other riders.

Tourists, however, rather than commuters.

Good, I’ll always be able to find a seat.