Today, I walked to the market to get some lunch. It is about a 15 minute walk, but on the way back, I just couldn’t be bothered. There are a couple of small variations in the route I can take between my house and Coventry city centre, but let’s face it, it’s not like walking down the Champs Elysees!
So I decided I’d head towards the station, and catch the train one stop to Canley. If you are a ‘normal’ walker just wanting to get from A to B, then nothing could be more pointless! Aside from ‘wasting’ money on a train ticket (well, actually not much more than jumping on the bus), and waiting for the train (a big five minutes, I wouldn’t have bothered if one wasn’t due), the train doesn’t actually get you any closer to my house. I live roughly the same distance from Coventry and Canley stations.
So why take the train at all? Shouldn’t I just go to London, and take the District Line to Barking? Well actually, no. To my mindset, this seemingly pointless journey made perfect sense. Firstly, it gave me somewhere to finish my lunch – I didn’t want to walk with it, and as someone who spends hours in front of a computer, I like to get out when I can. But more important than that (and no Tom-Tom, dick or Harry will ever tell you this), it is quite simply a much nicer walk. So instead of 15 minutes of boredom, I had 15 minutes of walking through the park.
Not to mention the fact that I am a total anorak for trains, but I still didn’t get my question answered about the ‘Class 351/2’s’ – that’s for another blog at another time – and it really isn’t that geeky, there is a genuine reason for wanting to know. I’m sure you can’t wait to find out!
Now back to work.