What do you SEE on a bus and train trip

What do I typically see when on a bus? I don't think I uses to SEE or observe much with any intensity or thought.

S observes certain detail intensely.  A chime or rhythm slightly misplaced is logged as wierd, funny, wrong or amazing.   

With easy portal photography, he can train that eye and snapshot it.  The captured images give you a sense of the world through his lens. 

It's a perspective so very different from mine.  So very different from many "typicals" that it astonishes. 

Every bus and train ride has 10 to 20 captured snapshots if S has his way.  

Below are a sample from the last few.  

Note the  capture of signs, lettering and logos.   People are incidental.  

Patterns, colour and shapes.  

What I take as granted as everyday is elevated to the most important.   

Mindfulness and Watching Trains

I’m constantly learning.  S has brought a unique dimension to this.  I believe people who stop learning or experiencing novel events become unhappy.

Perhaps a skill we should learn at school, is how to make the most of what we have and what we can experience. I view this at the root of much mindfulness teaching, it goes back further to stoic thinking. I made a round-about post on this last year while waiting for buses and thinking about samurai quotes.

Our ability to re-purpose our moments meaningfully is important. The - perhaps fictional story - of the janitor telling the US President  “I’m helping put a man on the moon” his job part of a wider more important calling. A cleaner in a hospital is saving lives on as regular basis as a junior doctor.

Experiencing unique moments. S shows me how to do a lot of this. I’ve trekked through ancient rainforests, accidently eaten the egg of a maleo bird and stayed with nomadic hunter gatherers in the Sulawesi jungle. Only a handful of people have experienced that.

Still, not many people have gone to Northwick Park, and stood on a footbridge to watch 8 different types of train go past. The experiences have more in common than you might think. You could approach this with a heavy heart and a mind of boredom. Hard to do when S remains so cheerful. Reminding you life is all around, new experiences are everywhere. I’ve never been to this footbridge before.

Train racing  

Instead I noticed the squelch of mud and the vigourous grass. I laughed at the train racing between the Bakerloo line train and the London Northwestern Railway trains. I watched in passing a scrappy game of football, mixed race, mixed gender, head scarfs and Nikes and hoodies all jumbled - I thought perhaps only in London on a cloudy winter day.

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 A reason to be hopeful - the wished for happy endings that Annie Proulx speaks about - 

Sheryl Sandberg on grief and gratitude.   Anoushka on gratitude.   Lessons autism has taught me.

GWR Electro Train

In yet another train first for us, we managed to find a GWR Class 378 train.  According to Wiki, The Class 387 Electrostar is an electric multiple unit (EMU) built by Bombardier Transportation.  

It made us happy. And we watched some more at Ealing Broadway. 

The GWR Twitter people were very helpful in trying to in down where/when the 378 trains might be running. (Paddington to Maidenhead is your best bet)

Bus tips. Mindfulness. Stoics.

Short tips on waiting for buses. Practising the mindfulness of a samurai. Everyday Stoicism in action. A chance for galaxies to collide.

I'm firmly a public transport person. Through my son, I'd even venture to say I'm a reluctant enthusiast or a moderate fan, I've moved through the purely functional to where function meets form or more.

Tiles and mosaics, photographed by me as we wander in rail song. Some of the designs are based on the original Edwardian designs by Leslie Green.  An interesting account of the balancing forces involved in "conserving" / replacing  / updating  the Underground tiles can be read here.

I've not learnt to drive. I've lived most of my life in London. Given London's Tube started in the 1850s I think the transport system has managed to play the cards it has been dealt. It's emphasis on design and art is stimulating if you pay attention; more simply a spot of sunshine on a regular heads down day.

Art on the Underground have commissioned some great works in the last 14 years.  The labyrinth project (see pictures below) by artist Mark Wallinger has each station with have an enamel panel measuring 60cm by 60cm with a different labyrinth on it. All 270 are numbered them according to the route taken on the 2009 record breaking Tube Challenge.    

‘Diamonds and Circles’ works ‘in situ’ is the first permanent public commission in the UK by the acclaimed French artist, Daniel Buren. The artwork transforms Tottenham Court Road station with Buren’s signature geometric patterns across the vast central ticket hall and multiple station entrances. Buren’s designs play with simple concepts; shapes, colours and stripes.

Labyrinth images. (cc) Mike Quin - see http://www.geograph.org.uk/snippet/15547    More information on Daniel Buren and his art at Tottenham Court Road, here https://art.tfl.gov.uk/projects/permanent-commission-by-daniel-buren/

Still of late, I've done my fair share of waiting for buses and here are my tips.

So first the obvious... In London, TFL through the internet can give you a very good sense of when a bus is arriving. Google maps, citymapper and the like can also help.

If those are down, or you want to go old school, then you want to check how many people are waiting at the bus stop as you approach. More people the higher chance a bus is coming. A very large crowd might indicate a broken bus or another larger problem.

You might also want to check if walking on to another nearby stop might give you a larger variety of buses to choose from.

If it looks like a long wait and you want to walk on, you can do so but you need to mentally commit - maybe make it into a game. You need to commit in your head, because there is anguish if while walking, the bus you want passes you by.

You need to borrow from the samurai.

“The rain is a teacher. If you are caught in a down pour, do not run down the road attempting to stay dry. You will still become soaked. Accept that from the beginning and go steadily on your way. You still be wet, but you won’t suffer any distress from the rain. Apply this lesson in all things.”

Due to the mental pain of the needed bus passing you, I suggest if in doubt just wait. If you end up waiting a long time, chances increase that many buses arrive together! Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

This is an occasion to practise stoic thinking and mindfulness.

“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not.”

— Seneca

Seneca wrote that about 2000 years ago. He was not thinking about waiting for buses. Given the amount of waiting I know do, and the complex patterns of transport (today only Night Tube train routes), I find I enjoy myself letting go to an autistic pattern not of my understanding. To do this, I need to relax from "an anxious dependence upon the future" and then the journey is often remarkable.

My last tip is to strike up a conversation. The two classic openers would be to ask how long they have been waiting or a comment about the weather. From there conversations could meander down any path. It does take two to dance, but an open mind and a strong lead can take you anywhere.

Bear in mind - everybody is somebody's weirdo. Trains are not conducive to random conversation. People feel too trapped to risk it. Unless "otherness" intervenes and cuts across our bubble. An autist in the zone of rail song will do this for a carriage. If you don't have such a company, then it can be tough to start conversation.

Bus stops are easier. There's more space. There's a slower pace. It's a great area for serendipity and conversation to strike. Don't ask why? Think why not?

“You see things, and say, why? I dream things that never were, and say, why not?”

— After George Bernard Shaw

Where different galaxies collide, the most interesting matter can be created.

Cross fertilise. Read about the autistic mind here and ideas on the arts here. On investing try a thought on stock valuations.