riding in trains

I have arrived at my destination. There is something remarkable about travelling this way. Bisecting the city on train shortly after departure, I was struck by a sense of the unfamiliar. This is the city that used to be foreign to me in every glance and with every move, but I have grown accustomed to it over the years. Today I was somewhere else. Maybe back to the beginning of my time here or maybe somewhere novel. Lines of backyards preceded unfamiliar houses. The architecture seemed alien. Looking out at people in cars and walking the streets, leading their lives, I felt like a voyeur. Somehow riding this train brought me to a place normally beyond reach, making the reality of these people accessable. Like looking up into the miniscule passenger windows of a plane flying overhead, in a flash I got this.

Wake-up call and breakfast pre-ordered, and pajamas on, I will be asleep soon. I heard a clock chime somewhere outside in the fog at 10 PM - hopefully this isn't going to wake me at every hour...