Big wheel keeps on turning
Right, and so to complete the posting from Seattle scene…
Thursday, I decided that the little toe on my left foot wasnt going to stop being an issue anytime soon, so decided that was the day to ride the full length of the Seattle Light Rail, up the other extension since I was previously here, the one up to the University of Washington. I have to say that the extension at this end of the route (to Angle Lake) has been an absolute boon, as its nearer than the Airport station to here, and walk-able. Well, in perfect health, maybe, but I survived. There is one killer (but thankfully short) uphill stretch on the walk from here to that station, which I wont be missing now!
Coming out of the University station, I rather expected to be on the edge of the University grounds. Ah well…What I was very close to, was Husky Stadium, the home of the University football team. Well, seemingly in these days of glorious sponsorship, its now called Alaska Airlines Field, but will always be Husky Stadium to me! I hobbled a short distance further, didnt find anything more than sports facilities, so gave up on that idea. When I got back to the station, I did find a map, and the grounds were relatively nearby, but decided I wasnt going to push my foot by setting out again, in a totally different direction. So, defeated, back into town, earlier than planned. So I headed for a landmark with memories for me, that I knew hadnt moved, the rail station. Wrong time of day to see the Empire Builder train, though I did see a goods train trundling through the station, heading south. One of these days I will do another long distance train journey, though whether it will be the repeat Empire Builder again, or more likely, Los Angeles to Chicago (via Kansas City, please note), I have no idea. In theory, I could do a ‘Clara Johnson’ and travel by train from Oklahoma City, via Texas, to Los Angeles, if timed right, but I wouldnt put good money on that one. Requires a change in Texas, a slightly shorter one than I suspect Clara did!
After that, I headed down to the front again, and ended up seeing the city from on high again, this time from a giant wheel, hence the title of the blog! The last time I did one of those was the London Eye, with my mother, and that would be about 25 years ago! This time, it wasnt just one turn around the wheel, but 6, but then again it was a lesser radius, which probably explained why! Blonde moment, I realized eventually that I’d only looked in 1 direction for about 5 turns, so turned to take in the other side, and that was when the wheel stopped at the bottom lol! Ah well…
Yesterday, day time at least, was relatively quiet. Went and did the holiday shopping for others, and also found myself a new (much needed) handbag, that certainly looks vintage, even if it clearly isnt! I also found a gorgeous dress in another store, very 30’s, but a bit pricey for me (about $60, plus tax, however much that might have been), and was only a medium size, so I talked myself out of it. Hindsight to that, I discovered I wasnt quite as impoverished as I thought I was, so I decided to go back today, and see if it actually fitted, or not, and probably buy if it did. But no, someone had already beaten me to it, not surprised, it was gorgeous. Macy’s did also have some nice period dresses, but with them you’re talking over $200 each, plus tax, so didnt even consider it, way beyond my purse!
Yesterday evening saw the return to Safeco Field, and the Mariners, this time, all went far more smoothly. I also have to thank Melissa for the Goody Bag (not that she will see this) that was provided too. Must be a lucky mascot, mind, as I saw them win twice! Hobbled back to the Light Rail station just in time for a train to pull in empty, and run back from there, to Angle Lake. Still got my commuting skills, got a seat, no idea how!
Today, beyond the failed shopping trip, was the farewell tour. I didnt go right down to the water today, its a steep route down, and more critically, up, as I discovered on Thursday, so settled for a seat at the top of the steps, and looked out over the water from there for a while. Then back to the Light Rail, the ride out of town, and for now at least, the final farewell. In theory, if nothing changes in my life, I’ll be back in 6 years time (my post retirement trip), as this place will be my stop off point to Alaska. In reality, the way my body is currently falling apart, I wouldnt put good money on being in strong enough health for that, even with breaks en route, but we will see. Thats one thing I have realized, west coast trips really are going to be a no go, very soon, if not already! There will be 1 more, even if I have to drag my shattered body to LA, it will happen at some point! But Seattle…?
Tomorrow, I fly back home, back to work on Wednesday, blessed with a bank holiday this week, which enables me to do it this way. Covering as Team leader again for that week, should be interesting, once I’ve caught up on work emails at least! 2 weekends from now, is Blackpool! Then, as far as I know, thats it until a few days away in Scotland in September, couldnt afford more at present, anyway! Especially as, maybe in November…? You’ll have to wait on that!
Right, video time. Big clue in the blog title, absolutely! Live performance, nearly 50 years old, now I really feel old!
Diesel train, chugging down the track
Well, this is one of those occasions where the initial premise for the blog today isn’t going to happen! No prizes for what it was going to be, given its the 14th November, in other words, Louise Brooks’s birthday, of sorts. She would have been 107 today, but was never going to last that long given her lifestyle!
Anyway, enough of that, its not what you’re getting now, because I found this video! Its rare, to say the least, I’d certainly never discovered it before, and with Doris Day, thats saying something! Everyone remembers her as a film star, who could sing, but in fact, she started out as a dancer, who only turned to singing after a car crash. Then she became a film star, and so…who at 89 (officially), or at 91 (as some records suggest), she’s still going strong!
And yes, its fair to say that if I’d been a young girl, I would have wanted to be Doris Day. I think I did anyway, as a teen, so I should have taken the dysphoria hint back them, but never mind…
Next week, I will be taking a ‘Sentimental Journey’ again, one I’ve been taking from my youth, on the Settle & Carlisle railway. I’ve known it through good days (as it is now), bad days (2 trains a day, and only stations at Settle, Appleby and Carlisle open), and probably inbetween too. Though there are steam specials on the line a-plenty, I’ve never been on one…yet. No, next week, the journey will be by humble diesel train, yet again.
It is a spectacular journey, but then again, so are some of the Scottish ones. And I can bear witness that travelling by train, through the Rockies in winter, is quite something too, and I really must do it again sometime, though I have no idea when.
But thats for next week. Prior to then, I have the delights of battling Trans Pennine Express for the next 3 days, to and from work. Not terribly scenic, definitely nothing I could ever feel sentimental about, but it helps pay the wages! It would be wonderful to write as an occupation, but dont think thats ever going to happen.
Indirectly at least, more about train journeys
Annette Mary Budgett Meakin (1876-1959)
Yes, I fully expect all my readers at this point to be saying, who? And yes, in all honesty, I dont blame anyone in the slightest for that. And until that point a good number of years ago now, when I picked up an anthology on travel on the Trans Siberian Railway, I would have said the same thing.
What she was, was along with her mother, she was the first English woman to travel the full length of the Trans-Sib (for short) on the route as it was then. Many believe they were the first non Russian women to do so, certainly without male company. But thats just the least of her talents, as I will mention later.
The thing is, her section wasnt written as a travel journal, this was wonderful, ;warts and all’ stuff, of a railway in its early existence in the wilds of Siberia, and she told it as it was through her journey. if you can track down any section of ‘Ribbon Of Iron’, you will see what I mean. Just remember this was written around 1900-1901, and attitudes were very different back then. Poor folk were poor, and Miss Meakin doesnt always hide her distaste for their behaviour, as culture was so different back then.
But strictly, thats half the story. What happened was her, and her mother set out for the World Fair in Paris in 1900 (yes, same time as the Olympics), and got caught up in the PR there for this amazing new railway through Czarist Russia, on wonderful trains. Nowadays we”d probably make notes, do some planning, and then maybe book the trip. Annette, nothing of the sort, her and her mother (I assume they had decent wealth) set off for Moscow by train, to travel on this journey to Siberia! Unsurprisingly, the trains when they got to Moscow didnt match up to the claims. But undeterred, off they went! And yes, after a few social mismatches and the like on the way, they reached Vladivostok. Now unlike today, they couldnt just hop on a plane and fly back, no one had even flown at that point! So what do they do, board a ship to Japan, cross the Atlantic, go across Canada, down to New York, and boat back home! The whole trip took about a month and a half!
All very wonderful you might say, but…this wasnt her only trip! She is widely believed to be one of the first women to travel through Turkmenistan (pre WW1) pretty much on her own, and interact with the natives. She also visited the USA in 1906(?), writing up her adventures for more books. By modern standards, her comments about blacks in America are far from flattering, indeed quite racist, but attitudes have changed since then, I suspect her views were the norm back then.
Oh, and she trained as a chemists assistant during WW1 as well, and some reports state that she actually qualified as a nurse too. Yes, details are unfortunately hazy, a hazard of trying to find out information about a less than famous person nearly one hundred years ago! She was also a strong campaigner for female rights as well, though there is no mention of Suffragete involvement.
Sorry, I’d love to tell you more about this amazing woman, but even tracking down more than the years of birth and death have pretty much drawn a blank. The only thing I do know is that she never married! I know at some point she lived near Reading, another period in Pateley Bridge in Yorkshire, but no details of how long, or when have come from my searches. Place of birth and death, not a clue!
What I do know, is that at a time when most women were shy, quiet creatures, she wasnt! And I so admire her for that, and what she did in her life. Hopefully now at least a handful more people know of her, and what she did.
The musical choice, purely random I think its fair to say. But its a group I knew as a young child, a group manufactured for TV, an irony nowadays given X Factor and the like. I assume there is a place called Clarksville in the US, but I know no more than that. Were there trains there, are there still trains there?
Enjoy one of the great Monkees songs
Long distance travel
I guess its fair to assume that when I go on holiday, the last thing I would want to do would be a train journey, given that I put up with the delights of travelling with Trans Pennine Express 5 days a week, but you’d be wrong. Partly because the train companies I travel with while away, tend to be far more efficient lol!
But anyway, that isnt strictly what this is about anyway.
In this country there are what are termed spectacular train journeys. The Settle & Carlisle line, the West Highland Line, and the Mid Wales line to name but 3 (one for each mainland country please note) of those I’ve had the delight of travelling. The Kyle line, The Cambrian Coast line, and alright, I cant think of one spectacular English line active today that I havent done already lol! All fantastic journeys, and if you get the chance…
But compared to the ones I’m going to mention now, all quite short! Back in 2003 I was fortunate enough to get the chance to cross the US, from Seattle to Philadelphia and back, almost coast to coast! I was lucky enough to do it in January, so the scenery, and large amounts of snow over the Rockies and beyond was quite spectacular. Never will I forget Minot, North Dakota, a balmy minus 25F when I left the train on the stopover there, on the way east. About 6 years or so later, I completed the coast to coast thing, when catching a train from Philadelphia to Atlantic City, walking down to the ocean, and knowing I’d finally done it. Sadly nowhere was selling t-shirts to mark the event lol!
An awesome journey, and one I used in a story some years later. I wont include a link, as its adult in nature, and I have no idea who reads this.
Funnily enough there are a few more long distance trains that I’d love to travel, the most obvious one being the Trans Siberian railway of course, surely the most incredible journey in the world? Trans Canada, from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Vancouver, British Columbia would also be on my hit list, though that does require a couple of changes of train. I doubt they will ever build a line right across Alaska, but if they do, count me in!
But if you said to me, just one line, which one would it be? None of them actually! Maybe I like the cold, maybe I just like the truly incredible, but there’s a line in Canada that wanders north from Winnipeg, to a place called Churchill, on the Hudson Bay. Yes, that place invaded by polar bears every winter lol! Such a highly populated route that there are only 2 trains a week (3 in summer, I believe?) in each direction, and the journey takes the best part of 2 days to complete! It must be an amazing trip at any time, but especially in winter.
But all those routes (except the Trans Siberian) require a flight to get there. The longest journey strictly by train from here, incredibly now via the Eurotunnel, Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam! How long it would take is another matter entirely!
Alright, the most suitable video I could find is by a group you might recognise, as I’ve used them before
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA15Es6Bw2w&feature=fvst
Any spectacular routes I’ve missed?
Reading choices, and travel
And no, nothing to do with towns in Berkshire, Pennsylvania, or whatever lol!
My reading preferences are pretty much twofold, travel literature and science fiction. Well, I might see the Racing Post at work sometimes, and sometimes pick up a newspaper oin the train, but you get my drift. Oh, and travel guides to where I’m going, just maybe. So if anyone has any spare travel books to Boston… 😉
Basically my travel lierature tends to fit into 2 groupings, that with a sense of dry humour (Bryson, Thubron, Hawks) or books about long distance train journeys in various, generally remote parts of the world (too many to mention), quite often Siberia! I have travelled across America by train from Seattle to Atlantic City, though the last chunk from Philadelphia was 6 years after the rest of it! Dream journeys still to do incude the Trans Siberian (fairly obvious I guess?), and Winnipeg to Churchill in Canada (maybe less so?), and would be trans Alaska as well, if there was one! Yes, I like northern climes, and have done the Bergen – Kirkenes – Bergen journey by boat as winter was setting in, quite something. I could joke about a dream journey where Trans Pennine Express run on time, but maybe thats just a shade harsh?
Science fiction tastes are more Metropolis than Dune, robots definitely interest me shall we say? Have read some Asimov, but not as much as I probably should have. Also read a lot of transformation type stuff, not just robots, but they are probably my big kick. Also love all the outer space and alien stuff to be honest. A lot of what I read is actually internet stuff, though I do have a book collection of sorts, mainly the travel stuff. And yes, I’ve written some sf type shorts on the net too.
Travel, yes 3 weeks from now, if you’re lucky, you’ll be getting the odd blog from Boston, looking forward to the trip, I must admit. Plans for next year are very much TBA at present, will probably think about that on my return.
Whats that, where’s the video? Well this posting doesnt really fit into that! Oh, alright, including footage of one place I’d love to visit if it wasnt for travel time, and cost.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEZG7FoBHk0
So if Alaska Airlines are feeling really generous…
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