Train Ride Odyssey

Friday.

End of April. The day to send in invoices and contemplate what has happened so far this month.

There have probably been 5 different crypto narratives coming and going since, the latest Runes, just died today (or so I've heard).

There's been a conference under water, and some more eye-staggering raises by startups that make you wonder "what are they going to use the money for, eradicating poverty?"

Although poverty not being eradicated despite us probably having the means might just be another thing on the neoliberalist agenda... Yes, I'm reading Chomsky these days, and he's not kind to the "market rules it all" crowd.

But I don't want to write about how much our economic system sucks, nor about how tiresome the crypto hype chasing is.

Instead, I've been thinking about slowing down.

I'm currently in Berlin.

In Berlin's main station, track 10 to be precise.

I'm sitting on a train bound for Hamburg, omw to visit my parents.

Who knows when this train will continue its journey? After all, this is the German train system and it's anything but on time or efficient. The running gag is that anything with less than 10 minutes delay will be displayed as "on time".

I reckon Bismarck wouldn't find that amusing, but we're in the 21st century and Made in Germany not necessarily a sign of quality (except if you order a blog post from me of course)

The good thing is, I am not in a rush. So it doesn't matter.

If anything, I can probably appreciate the slowness.

For one, the Wifi is terribly slow too. This is why I'm typing this on my notes - and will copy it later into Paragraph once I'm somewhere where glass fiber reaches.

Sure, I could try to be like the other guy sitting on the table opposite who is looking somewhat annoyed at his laptop - seeming very important in his button-down shirt.

[insert badum tss gif]

Well, if my life were a comedic opera, this would have been a moment when they played a gong, followed by a descending scale to indicate disappointment.

Just after I was thinking how nice it is to be on a slow train, the announcement came that we had upgraded to ultimate slowness, which means no progress whatsoever—the train was canceled.

Still, unlike the couple opposite me who fell into panic (this would probably be some staccato and dissonant sounds), I decided not to let this ruin my vibe. After all, I got enough vibe-ruining activity when I opened Twitter.

[insert 10 years later spongebob gif]

Being stuck in Berlin mainstation also has its perks. I've had a salad, I've met a bunch of the begging mafia (without giving them money) and I had time to remember that July posted this morning that the unexpected happenings is what makes the Odyssey such a great story. Had they gotten straight to their goal, it'd be a boring book.

In that spirit, I've observed pigeons fighting over bread crumbs falling from a kids' sandwich - and admired the amount of trains coming and going at this station. I also saw a girl writing postcards! Was close to walking up to her and thanking her, but then figured it'd be a bit too cringe.

If you detach from the fact your train too isn't running, it can even be somewhat entertaining to watch others' outrage at it. Is this Schadenfreude? Maybe. But don't forget, I too am stuck.

Telling them that they need to embrace the bible verse that asks God to give us the power to accept what we cannot change (German train system) does little to soothe the ennui.

And it's probably too much to ask everyone to be a bit more stoic. I might be lucky that I have a bit of a disposition to being calm. My mum told me that when on stage, I was always super cool, borderline giving a IDGAF impression.

Yet that wasn't true. I did care. I just was better at concealing my nervousness.

So far, my journey of supposed 5 hours has already turned into 7. And I'm not even halfway there.

C'est la vie.

Will I make it to Hamburg today?

No one knows.

But then, our entire lives are uncertain.

You might as well learn to live with it best by spending time stuck somewhere with a cup of tea and a curious eye on your surroundings.

As I was finally on the train toward my destination, I realized that it was much brighter outside than it'd be where I live at.

Turns out - sunsets are 23 minutes apart between my eastern city and where my parents live. 🌆 I had simply never thought about that, but in hindsight, it's logical.

The more you know.

In the end, I arrived at 11 pm, not at 8 pm as initially scheduled.

Decided to leave this unpolished, copied straight from my notes app.