I’m typing this on the Chicago-DC train, about 2 hours our
of DC. Again, there’s no wifi on the train, so if you are reading this, we’ve
made it to DC and are in our hotel.
One of the things I’m finding so far on this trip is that
the American media focuses on local issues first, with national issues covered second.
Local news is completely irrelevant to us, to be honest. And while it’s
interesting to hear what is happening nationally, it’s very difficult to find
out what is happening in the rest of the world, because international events
are covered only insofar as they relate to the US. It’s not just TV – we’re
currently on the Chicago-DC overnight train, and having just thumbed through
the complimentary copy of ‘USA Today’, there is a single news story that
emanates from outside the US, which is something about plans to make the UK
House of Lords elected. While that was an interesting story, we want more!
One of the things that happens on overnight rail travel is
meals are served in ‘community seating’ style. Tables seat 4, so if you are
travelling with 3 other friends, you can always sit together. But because Cathy
and I are 2, this means we’re always paired up with 2 other random people from
the train. Some conversations so far have been interesting while others have
been completely inane (and it’s a struggle sometimes to keep up the pretence of
conversation), but last night we were paired with a couple of journalists from
French TV who are doing a story on the ‘swing States’ between Chicago and DC
gauging attitudes of the electorate as to who they will vote for, and why (they
may have also picked Chicago as the starting point given that’s where the
current President is from). Their conclusions as of last night was that there’s
no way Obama can lose given his opponent, but one of the reasons they gave was
they thought it would be a backward step for the nation to reject its first
African-American president after only a single term given the paradigm shift it
was to elect him in the first place. We mentioned the Australian context, which
they found interesting: you’d think a nation electing its first female PM would
be cause to celebrate – it’s a similar watershed – but apparently not.
Conversation was so interesting that we were the last ones
to leave the dining car and almost had to be forcibly ejected by the frustrated
army general who’s running the kitchen on this train. One of the interesting
things they said was that Americans they’d been interviewing were surprised
that French/European television was so interested in what they thought –
clearly showing these people’s lack of understanding that the decisions they make do change the
world, a suspicion I’d hitherto suspected but hadn’t had confirmed. Anyway, it
was great to hear what was happening in the EU as well as the rest of the world,
from a European focus. Just walked back from the café car to notice them
interviewing some random about his thoughts on Obama and the election. Will definitely
have to keep an eye out for this piece online when it is complete – they said
it would be screened late August, and would be posted to Youtube about the same
time.
Before we left Chicago, Cathy bet me that this train would
be late. The agreed stakes are $50, and if the train is on time, I win, and if
it’s late, Cathy wins. She was generous enough to grant me 50 minutes grace
(i.e. if the train is less than 50 minutes late, it’s ‘on time’ and I win), but
we’re ahead of schedule right now (about 2 hours out of DC) so I think my money
is safe.
As I type, my arm keeps going a little bit numb. These bunks
are SO narrow – marginally narrower than on the previous train, I think, and
the marginal difference was the difference between a good night’s sleep and
not. Consequently it was difficult to sleep last night, and what little sleep I
got was from being scrunched up in a ball (I think my arm got more sleep than I
did). But it wasn’t just the bunk that stopped me sleeping, it was also the noisy
people in adjacent cabins who just wouldn’t shut up. I’m sure it’ll go away
once we get to DC and start walking.
Cathy said she just saw her first Confederate flag from out
the window. Yes, Virginia; Maryland is the South.
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