On a train bound for nowhere

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How do you know if you need a new knee?

I only ask because I met a friend I hadn't seen for years and, when I asked how he was, he said - Well, I could do with a new knee.

I have another friend who is shortly going into hospital to have a hip replacement. I was surprised to learn this because I had not noticed him limping - but he is usually sat on a bar-stool when I see him.

Maybe there is a correlation between how much pain and discomfort you are in, and how much you fear surgery. A sort of threshold.

Anyway, I will leave that topic for a moment.

I am on a train heading into the city. The sun is strobing through the trees and I can feel warmth through the window. Usually, when on public transport, I like to just look out the window or watch the other passengers - but today I am jotting down some thoughts.

The train glides into a country platform. Then it's off again - two minutes, I think they are allowed. (I once did some part time work for the Post Office. On a mainline station, loading and unloading sacks of mail. That's how I know about the two minute rule.)

I could fall asleep here, rocked by the rhythm of the rails.

Now we have arrived at a little station in deep cutting. I know this station well; I used to get off here when I worked at a factory, half a mile up the road. But don't get me on the old nostalgia trip - they were happy days though (mostly).

Still, as someone said, 'King Charles' Golden Days are here and now' (I think it may have been King Charles.)

Oh, now we've stopped just outside a bigger station. It's the one you get off at for the airport. It's named after a famous Beatle. Strange having an airport called Dung.

Look at all the backs of houses flying past. I always wonder who lives in them; what sort of life they have: their hopes, dreams, fears. Perhaps they are thinking - I wonder who is in that train. Well, it's me!

I'd like to live in a house backing onto a railway line. I did once. Well, it was a flat. But my wife didn't like the noise of the trains - amongst other things. So we only stayed one week! Looking back, it might have benefited everyone if I had put my foot down with a firm hand.

Blue sky over the rooftops. Not a cloud in sight. The weather people say we are in for a heatwave - in October! That'll be good.

I see a cathedral. This city has got two. Now that's what I call planning - having a back-up cathedral. I don't know how many mosques, but it does have a dance-hall called 'MECCA'.

We've arrived. A man with an orange baseball cap walks down the aisle, trailing a dog on a leash. I had an orange baseball cap. It was given to me as a present - but I can't find it.

I also once had a dog. Her name was Wendy. But she got run-over by a bus.

Anyway, to the job in hand. Let's get going.

Thought for the day: There are some people for whom appearance is more important than the reality. In fact, for them, it is the reality.