Sunday, March 28, 2010

Train rides

This is my absolute new favorite possession:



My (student discount) train pass.  I get cheap rides between my home and school stations (which are named on the top; the character with the arrows below it means 'school') and it has my name on it (at the bottom) and even my age (weird).  This one s good for three months, and I can just wave it in front of the turnstile when I get off and on instead of buying a ticket and feeding it into the machine.  Plus, it has a penguin, and I have very positive associations with penguins.  (This guy is everywhere; there are posters advertising the pass all over the place and merchandise with him on it in all the big stations.)


This amazing poster is in my home station:




As anyone who's anybody knows, I love Thomas.  I named my car after one of his friends, and tormented my brother with him as a child (Poor Jeffrey Thomas the Tank Engine Gary; I don't know if he ever got over it).  Seeing him outside my station on my morning commute is one of the best things a foreign girl could hope for.  Above him says (more or less) 'a kinder station is a safer station', and the bubble by his head says 'engine driver'.   Down below where he's next to Henry and Gordon (side note: David Henry the Tender Engine Gary never got quite the response as the Thomas version, which was always a huge disappointment) he advises us to ask the 'station people' about anything we might not understand or are concerned about.  Thank you Thomas; I will certainly do that.  Thank you for keeping me safe. Between you and the happy penguin, I am certainly in good hands.

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