Train rides

One aspect that I like about staying in Australia are the train rides. The place where I stay now is two and a half hours away from Sydney, by train and by driving. Before I had my car, I would grab every dear opportunity to take lifts from my tenant or colleagues down to Sydney, so that I could familiarise myself with the route and directions which I will venture in when I drive myself down in future. It never materialise anyway. First of all, I had reservations driving down the 2-hour long stretch of roads all by myself armed with only a map or street directory. I can do that in Singapore because eventually I would return in a circle one hour later to where I had started. After all, it takes probably less than half a day to travel from one end of the island to another. But here, I could have been lost in the bewilderness of nowhere on the isolated highway, given my horrendous (nil-) sense of direction. Or what if my car stalls or decides to give up on me halfway? These thoughts suffice to deter me from any daring attempts to take up the challenge, at least not at this time.

Secondly, I am beginning to enjoy my train rides. It used to be inconvenient for me without the car, since I would have to take a cab to and fro the train station which added up humongously to the costs of travel. The wait for the cabs can be painstaking as well since they are not always easily available unless I call for their services. With my "baby" now, I would drive down to the train station, park next to it (parking is FREE generally across the country except for the city), and take the train, all for $21 with a return ticket. My friends in Sydney used to think that the rides were too long and suggested that I sleep in the train. But that is too much of a waste. There are plenty for me to do and see. Every town or city that I pass, every lake and hills, the lush greeneries by the side.......there is character and life as the train makes an interval stop at every station, simulating every page of our lifebook. Gosford looks sceneric with the yachts parked on the lakes......Chatswood would be a happening outlet to spend the weekend.......hmmm.....Hornsby seems to have a substantial Asian population as well........I am just so tempted to alight at these places each time to satisfy my own curiosity of God's creation.

I find myself a regular in the bookshops here nowadays. I never read a single novel since I graduated and started working in Singapore. My time had been spent dutifully with my family, friends and computer, with lots of fine dining and socialising in between my hectic schedule of hospital work. I used to read crap and women magazines which would not require much brain power from me during leisure times. I finished 3 novels since I am here and am currently halfway through "Nothing is Impossible - Reflections on a new life" by the late Christopher Reeve. Before that, I was glued to The Sounds of the River by Da Chen, Watching the Tree by Adeline Yen Mah and Girl with a Pearl Earring, a jewel of a novel written by Tracy Chevalier. I have rediscovered my old self through serious reading, a hobby which I had cultivated since childhood, under the strong influence of my parents who believed the importance of a good education. Memories of the young me fantasizing with Enid Blyton's vivid descriptions or palpitating with the riveting Nancy Drew's classics return gradually as I spend my hours on the train salvaging every word and page of my novel/biliography, a pastime which I had long forsaken, with my entry into the complexity of the shark-infested working world.

Every train ride would bear a significance for me and my new life.