Hi folks,
I hope the trains come back in force. Trails to Rails is what I want.
I’ve seen a lot of changes during my life, but a couple of things seemed eternal, trains and binder twine. I was really surprised when I arrived in the United States back in the late 1970s, to find the rail system in decline. It is my favorite way to get around Europe, and rail just seems so efficient and comfortable. Rail transport is especially good for long distances or heavy freight. Then came the Rails to Trails Program, which must have Dagny Taggert rolling over in her fictitious grave. I used to go to school on the train as a kid in England in the mid-1950s, and I loved it. They were coal power, heavily polluting, and if you weren’t careful they threw the most horrible grit in your eyes, but we loved them. I am kind of hoping that the Rails to Trails Effort, which is an excellent one by the way, will one day become the Trails to Rails Program. I wouldn’t be surprised one little bit.
As a farm laborer in my youth, and a veterinarian in my late 20s, I would have had trouble getting by without some binder twine.
Then what about binder twine? I was out riding my bike with a friend today, and there was a typical bundle of this stuff on the ground, which took me back to my days on the pig farm, or as a veterinarian working with livestock, and needing a quick tie for something or other. No farmer in his right mind in my day would be without his bundle of twine. It felt good to pick the stuff up again after all these years of not baling hay or straw, but it sure was rough on your hands.
Now we have Twitter, and a thousand machines to do our work, which is why you need to exercise for better health. I don’t want to work with binder twine again, but I sure would like to see the trains come back in force.
-k @FitOldDog
Sorry, do not like the term “in my day”. Do not use it ever. It is a game-over phrase and I am still in play.
You are alive now so is not now also your day?
Hi Trevor,
In one of my other days?
The fact of the matter is, the world is changing, and we have to change with it, so I guess I think about the ‘old days’ as the ‘formative days’ of my generation, which creates certain ideas and concepts that are somewhat fixed in stone, like appreciating the Goon Show, of which this generation knows little or nothing.
That said, your point is a good one. Not a good philosophy to encourage.
The power of words is not to be taken lightly, which is why I like writing and receiving input such as yours. It challenges my thinking, and with some effort I change my thinking.
Thanks!
-kevin aka FitOldDog