Random encounters with train conductors
Hey, remember back in September when I went to the earliest available Chicago screening of Resident Evil: Retribution, because it didn't screen for critics beforehand, and we needed a review? And two different guys wound up explaining things about the movie to me?
This morning, I did the same thing with the also-not-screened-for-critics Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, which was mostly just boring and repetitive. And during the credits, the second guy, the one who saw I was bored with his rambling explanation and stopped and then we had a real conversation, came up to me afterward, very excited to see me again. He was there with a buddy, who looked politely disengaged, and when I asked if he often came to movies on Friday mornings, he said yeah, he and the friend are both conductors on the Burlington Northern train line. They bring trains in for the morning rush hour, and then they have a six-hour layover every day of the week, and they have to find ways to amuse themselves in town until their trains go back out at 3:30 in the afternoon.
To me, that sounds like hell. I mean, there's a lot to do in Chicago, sure, but there's much less to do in the winter, once it gets cold enough that you just can't be outdoors, and there aren't a lot of public spaces where you can spend a lot of time comfortably without paying, unless you really like libraries. I said as much, and he said it wasn't necessarily fun in the winter, but it's great in the summer. In the meantime, Friday is movie day every week, when they go to the first show of whatever.
It seems like such a weird and interesting way to live. But I suspect he's lonely, based on how obviously excited and pleased he was to see me again, and how much he wanted to chat. I had to get back to the office and bang out my review and do about 20 other things before the end of the day, so I wasn't in a very talkative mood, but we talked for a little while, and his enthusiasm was certainly catching. Talking to him was generally more fun than actually watching the movie had been. We went our separate ways promising to randomly bump into each other again at the theater someday.
This morning, I did the same thing with the also-not-screened-for-critics Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, which was mostly just boring and repetitive. And during the credits, the second guy, the one who saw I was bored with his rambling explanation and stopped and then we had a real conversation, came up to me afterward, very excited to see me again. He was there with a buddy, who looked politely disengaged, and when I asked if he often came to movies on Friday mornings, he said yeah, he and the friend are both conductors on the Burlington Northern train line. They bring trains in for the morning rush hour, and then they have a six-hour layover every day of the week, and they have to find ways to amuse themselves in town until their trains go back out at 3:30 in the afternoon.
To me, that sounds like hell. I mean, there's a lot to do in Chicago, sure, but there's much less to do in the winter, once it gets cold enough that you just can't be outdoors, and there aren't a lot of public spaces where you can spend a lot of time comfortably without paying, unless you really like libraries. I said as much, and he said it wasn't necessarily fun in the winter, but it's great in the summer. In the meantime, Friday is movie day every week, when they go to the first show of whatever.
It seems like such a weird and interesting way to live. But I suspect he's lonely, based on how obviously excited and pleased he was to see me again, and how much he wanted to chat. I had to get back to the office and bang out my review and do about 20 other things before the end of the day, so I wasn't in a very talkative mood, but we talked for a little while, and his enthusiasm was certainly catching. Talking to him was generally more fun than actually watching the movie had been. We went our separate ways promising to randomly bump into each other again at the theater someday.