Hello Internet,
I would have told you this sooner but I am away. I’ve had very strong feelings about this trip, and I knew I would and I wanted to record my state of mind throughout the course of planning and then doing my little InterRail trip.
Right now I’m in Grenoble. I wish I could post pictures but I don’t think I can; the surrounding mountains are amazing. Grenoble’s called the ‘capital of the Alps’ in France, and rightly so. I hope tomorrow is better, but today the city is infested with thunderstorms, with huge bolts of lightning reaching down from the mountain tops. And it’s raining.
I was amazed by the TGV. My previous train high speed has been 125mph. 186mph is quite a jump (though the train that I was on, a TGV duplex, has managed over 350mph. That’s more than half as fast as a commercial aeroplane. 2:55 from Paris to Grenoble with no stops; though the majority of the distance was covered in 2 hours
I’m going on 2 more TGVs, and then the Eurostar. Trains are awesome.
Paris was very Parisien, but I was left with a bad taste. That I’ll maybe elaborate upon that more, later.
I’m much more impressed by this youth hostel in Grenoble. It’s quite far out, yes, but it’s much friendlier and seems more secure. Plus, there’s free Wi-Fi and an iMac G3 available for use
PS. I’m keeping a (personal) diary so that I don’t forget anything. Also I’m in the bar having a few drinks right now.
Long story which I’m not going to tell, at least not now: I was due to start a month-long InterRail tour of France today, but my flight was cancelled, thanks to Iceland’s crazy volcano. I was due to fly 10 minutes after the restrictions started! I spent hours queueing – at least there was a nice French girl in front of me.
It turns out I’m going tomorrow; travelling to London by train and then getting an overnight coach to Paris, where I will resume my itinerary ((I’m out of pocket quite a bit; it could have gone to a much better cause than lost deposits and unnecessary bus and trains tickets.)). I’ve spent all afternoon reorganising my plans and I woke this morning at 6:15 after 3 hours sleep.
Worst day of my life!
I’m back home on 3rd June. Au revoir.
Marco found a quotation by Rick Webb that I want to share:
The telephone was an aberation in human development. It was a 70 year or so period where for some reason humans decided it was socially acceptable to ring a loud bell in someone else’s life and they were expected to come running, like dogs. This was the equivalent of thinking it was okay to walk into someone’s living room and start shouting. It was never okay.
Read the whole thing. It’s exactly what I’ve been thinking and feeling for a long time and now I’ve finally got around to expressing it. They’re not my words, but that’s exactly what I’ve been meaning to say.
I only place phone calls when there’s no other, less intrusive and similarly efficient way of communicating some information – which isn’t very often in my case. The last person I phoned was my Grandma two weeks ago – she doesn’t text or email, and I couldn’t visit her then. And the last call I received was from my older brother, who called for a chat. That’s fine too; we often have lengthy conversations, and with him living in London it’s often the best way of staying a part of each other’s life ((We both know when’s a good time to call.)).
A ringing phone so incredibly rude. “Hey, whatever it is you’re doing: stop, and come talk to me. What I’ve got to say is more important than whatever you’re doing”. A phone is an important tool to have, but that doesn’t mean it should be used when it doesn’t have to be. You might barge into someone’s conversation or work and interrupt them when there’s an emergency or when something needs to be communicated instantly, but in any other situation you would quickly earn a reputation for being an asshole. The same should be true with phone calls.
I want to focus on what I’m focusing on, and I want to deal with (non-emergency) stuff when I want to deal with it. Text messages and emails are perfect for that. The house is on fire? Fine, call me. But if you’ve just spotted Gordon Ramsay, let me know in a text. If you want to discuss it at great length, send me a text to see if I’d be up for a phone call, and I’ll get back to you when I’ve finished this game of Jenga.
I’ve taken to not answering the phone sometimes – the landline, that is. There’s the fact that it’s hardly ever for me, so why should I be a receptionist for the rest of the house? (Our phone doesn’t show who’s calling, so when I say “Hello?”, I really don’t know who I’m talking to ((I’ve become very fast at hanging up on ‘market researchers’ (“Hello sir, I want to thank you for coming to the phone this evening”)).) Most importantly, why should I come running whenever someone decides to dial those particular 11 numbers? If a phone call is really important, I think that the caller would at least try calling again straight away if no one picked up, so there’s no need to pick any call up the first time ((That’s a nice little filtering system there.)). Anyway, the majority of callers who would ever need to contact me in an emergency know my mobile number ((Thankfully I don’t get many calls to my mobile.)), which I will probably then answer.
By the way, I don’t even do instant messaging any more, though I realise that it’s a bit different. The main reason is that I’m now rarely at my desktop computer for extended periods of time ((I think that’s a good thing)), and when I am, I usually have a specific task that I wish to complete, preferably without interruptions. Again, I’m not ruling out ever using IM again, but I’m not going to have it running just in case someone wants to grab my attention when they please.
If you really want to communicate with me in real time: let’s meet up. Otherwise, an text or an email is usually the best option.
WiBu left a comment:
How did you vote if you do not mind me asking? You definitely seem like an SNP guy to the core, it flows through your veins (but I guess you voted Liberal).
Thanks WiBu, that’s an excellent question. I’ll answer it here so all my loyal readers can get to know me a bit better.
One thing: I can’t tell if you’re being serious in the second sentence ((Is it another Cher lyric?)). Do you actually think I seem like an SNP guy? And why do you think I voted for the Liberal Democrats? (I suppose my Twitter stream makes my dislike for David Cameron and Gordon Brown clear).
Anyway, I was talking about this issue with my friend George recently – is it valid to refuse to talk about ones voting practices? George thought that refusing didn’t make sense ((I’m sure this is a huge misappropriation, but I don’t care.)), yet I couldn’t give a proper answer. My gut feeling is that, yes, peoples’ desire to keep voting private should be respected… but why would someone want to keep it private? If you believe in a particular party, why wouldn’t you want to explain yourself and encourage others to vote with you?
I think I’ve found a good enough reason: that it’s just one more battle that you don’t want to get into. If I knew how all my friends voted, I’d probably think less of a bunch of them. Perhaps that would be a good thing – surely someone who votes Conservative isn’t someone worth being friends with. I happen to think that’s not true – they might just be misguided, or maybe I am. But I don’t want to spend my time persuading ((Or perhaps ‘reguiding’.)) anyone, and I don’t want my friends spending their time persuading me – which is what I think would inevitably happen.
For example, I was in a pub recently when I bumped into a friend who I hadn’t seen for months. We got talking about the election. He called me an idiot ((Not necessarily literally what happened, but that’s not the point.)) for liking the Liberal Democrats – apparently they just say what they think the voters want to hear ((Wait, isn’t that what all politicians do?)); they have no principles. He was going to vote for Labour due to their support for education. Ha.
Nothing good came of the discussion, and I think we left with each thinking slightly less of the other than before.i know I should be able to avoid judging people, but I’m happy not to know who my friends vote for, and I’m happy for them to not judge me for my voting practices.
I want to end this section with the sentence: ‘life’s too short’. Too short for what? Deciding how the country is run? If you think that that’s the most important thing in life, and that debating politics with each other will make a difference, then maybe life’s too short to do anything but debate.
Democracy works out alright without us having to talk about it all the time. That’s why we elect representatives, and I think most people are sensible enough to make a decent voting decision. We’re never going to elect the BNP, though we might have to suffer with the Tories from time to time. I’d rather spend my time having a simple, relaxing drink at the pub with my friends than talking politics all the time.
ASIDE: Yes, I realise I’m exaggerating a bit. This whole post is a bit of a mess. It doesn’t have to be a choice between 100% debating about politics all the time and enjoying life, I know. But I can understand someone just not wanting to get into it at all. I just don’t know if I can fully intellectually justify it. What do you think?
After all that, I’m not saying that I won’t talk about politics and my beliefs.
I don’t think I’m particularly aligned with the SNP. For starters, I don’t know that much about them ((I realise that I should have found out more about them, then.)). Secondly, I know that their ultimate goal is Scottish independence ((I don’t agree with that – partly explored in my post on Nationality.)). Thirdly, from watching a party political broadcast this evening I’ve learnt that – at this election at least – the SNP’s immediate aim is to ‘give Scotland a voice’. But I don’t think that Scotland needs its own special voice any more than, say, Yorkshire needs a voice or Newcastle needs a voice or Cornwall needs a voice. Yet I realise that I could be completely wrong about this. Also: I don’t think they’re evil, and they’ve done some good stuff.
My constituency is Perth & North Perthshire. This year there are 5 candidates standing for the General Election: one each for Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives and the SNP, plus a Trust candidate who happened to be the 2005 Conservative candidate (so basically another Tory).
I won’t vote for the Labour party or for a Tory in their current states, leaving me with the Liberal Democrats and the SNP. From what I’ve learnt, I support the Liberal Democrats more. In an ideal system, I would vote for the Liberal Democrats, and my vote would proportionally increase their power in government.
Sadly it’s not that simple, as I’m sure you know. Look at the results from 2005. Labour got 35% of the votes but 55% of the power; the Liberal Democrats got 22% of the votes but 10% of the power! It doesn’t make sense.
(By the way, a situation where the Liberal Democrats won more votes but less seats than Labour would be outrageous.)
My constituency is a fight between the SNP and the Conservatives. It’s almost certain that a vote for a Liberal Democrat will do absolutely nothing to help put a Liberal Democrat in power. Either a Conservative will win, or an SNP candidate will, and none of the other votes matter.
Who are you voting for this year, Mr. WiBu?
Dear Internet,
I feel shitty. Completely shitty. Fucking virus of some sort. I can’t do anything but there’s stuff I have to do.
I’ll see you soon… if I survive.
