SofSW: The Background (1/3)

The display hanging high above the platform shows a slight delay in the arrival of the train. The loudspeaker announces the delay in its customary incomprehensibly distorted voice. The loudspeakers make the railroad platforms seem the most anti-acoustic places in the world. Or maybe the railroad companies don’t care about sound design, maybe the low price of the speakers is enough. A train approaches. The people on the platform start nervously packing nearer and nearer to the rails. They seem like a pack of hyenas to me, all looking for their own interests. At the same time they present group behavior, which is clearly predictable. I decide to stand back and won’t move until the train has come to a full stop. I know that it will still take time for the doors to open and for arriving passengers to disembark the train. The train comes to a halt and sure enough the pack of hyenas is blocking the way of the out-coming passengers. The pack has to move and the passengers get off. As soon as the doorway is clear, the pack attacks it and compresses through as if the train might leave at any moment without any consideration to the embarking passengers. The trains aren’t that automatic. There’s a conductor overseeing the boarding and he signals to the engineer when the platform is empty and all passengers are on board. The hyenas have boarded now so I join them and climb aboard the train.

There are two floors and with my luggage I decide to go for the lower one. I find an empty seat, take my jacket off, even though this is only a half-hour trip, but I like to make myself comfortable. I place my suitcase behind the back of my seat and sit next to the window. I have the earphones of my music player on, but I’m not listening to music. I want to think.

The sun is shining through the window. There are lines of dirt on it, horizontal effects of high-speed. The city looks alive as the train leaves the station and crosses the first bridge. The windows of the houses are like eyes. I can see the souls of the apartments with a glance and as the train speeds up, the souls start to swish on by. As we leave the city, the amount of green grows. First there are trees among the houses, and bushes, slowly the houses go into minority and finally the green takes completely over. There are fields of green bright in the sunshine. There’s not a cloud on the sky and I turn my gaze inward.