The Milestones Keep Coming.

I’m pretty much confined to quarters, although I will admit that I do understand it’s one thing if your “confinement”  is to a small apartment and I have nothing but honest admiration for the families that are coping with this damn virus under conditions like that. My confinement is to 4.5-acre parcel on Maui.

Despite having it much, much better than most folks, I admit that I’m getting depressed. How long is this going to put a crimp in even basic activities, let alone being able to travel again? I love train travel, of course, but I’m not happy at the prospect of having to converse through a mask with fellow passengers. Of course, I’ll do it and I suppose I’ll get used to it. But it is a deterrent.

Then there’s the dining car issue. It’s clear we’re going to be stuck with “contemporary dining” for some time . . . maybe even permanently. And once that becomes permanent, we will have lost what has always been for me the best part of long-distance train travel in the U.S.: the chance to spend an hour meeting and getting to know two other travelers.

My granddaughter’s school reopened a couple of weeks ago. They had the routines worked out to the nth degree; it was very impressive. And it was all for naught because a rather large family went over to Oahu for a long weekend of seeing friends and relatives and several of them came home and tested positive. Now the entire school here has gone back to classes by internet. Whether it’s now or six months from now, selfish, stupid people will keep us into and out and back into lock-downs until a vaccine is available.

I am starting to put together an itinerary for another trip, but there are no specific dates. In fact, it begins with “Day One” and “Day Two” and, if I ever actually get serious, I’ll plug the specific dates in later.

Finally, this: I had an appointment with my neurologist yesterday and at the end of the session, which included a series of tests, she said, “I have a new prescription for you. Get it filled immediately.”

What’s it for,” I asked?

“Your balance,” she said.

“There’s a pill for that?” I asked.

“No! I’m saying you should get a cane.”

Another damn milestone.



































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Things are really heading south.  I’m pretty much confined to quarters, although I will admit that I do understand it’s one thing if your “confinement”  isto a one-bedroom apartment and I have nothing but honest admiration for the families that are coping with this damn virus under conditions like that. My confinement is to 4.5 acres parcel on Maui.

Despite having it much, much better than most folks, I admit that I’m getting depressed. How long is this going to put a crimp in even basic activities, let alone being able to travel again. I love train travel, of course. but I’m not happy at the prospect of having to converse through a mask with fellow passengers. Of course, I’ll do it and I suppose I’ll get used to it.

Then there’s the dining car issue. It’s clear we’re going to be stuck with “contemporary dining” for some time . . . maybe even permanently. And once that becomes permanent, we will have lost what has always been the best part of long-distance train travel in the U.S.: the chance to spend an hour meeting and getting to know two other travelers.

Several years ago I took Richard Branson’s train from London up to Edinburgh to see the famous military tattoo, There was no dining car on that train and, as a matter of fact, breakfast on the return trip was a cardboard box handed to me by the car attendant. It contained a small box of orange juice a cup of really awful coffee and a sticky bun of some kind. It was pretty pathetic and had it been served up in an Amtrak lounge car, there would have been hell to pay! 

I am starting to put together an itinerary for another trip, but there are no specific dates. In fact, It begins with “Day One” and “Day Two” and, if I ever actually get serious with specific dates, I’ll plug them in later.

I find this ongoing coronavirus to be terribly depressing. Travel is my thing! And here I am confronting the possibility that I may have had my last train ride . . . that I will never have traveled on the Simplon Orient Express or the Royal Scotsman or any of the other truly great rail experiences is a source of real melancholy.

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