Well, it’s midnight after being out on the town to see “Wicked” on Broadway, and now it’s time to try and remember my day that seems such a long time ago.
For the first time, on this journey, we have travelled by train and I must say it was a relief. I am accustomed to train travel and flying, but for those who haven’t travelled by plane much in America – my word, you’re in for a shock. In Australia, when you travel domestic via plane you go through basically one security test, occasionally two but golly, in America you are all but strip searched and cavity searched, and I get why they do it. But it is a relief to not have to go through that process again.
I have some odds and ends to talk about – mostly, some exciting times in Washington D.C. and some other parts of USA. First and foremost:
It’s a yellow school bus! Yes – they do actually exist. It’s not just in movies or The Simpsons or Desperate Housewives. That was supremely exciting.
Something else that was exciting was, in Washington D.C.:
That’s a crossing signal with a timer, so you know how long you have to cross. I loved that. Every city should have that. Having said that, most places in Canada and USA don’t have the noise at the cross signal that we have, so if you were blind you wouldn’t know when to cross. In Australia we have the noise for those who are blind and the signal for the deaf. See, in Australia, we think of these things… but no, compared to America and Canada – Australia is really disabled-unfriendly, for those in wheelchairs. Particularly St Peters.
Yay! It’s a squirrel! Aren’t they so cute? And they are so cute when they run, and they try and get into people’s strollers looking for a snack (no, they’re not trying to eat the children, they are looking for a snack in the stroller basket).
But today we had to leave Washington D.C. for New York City, and like I said we went by train. Now, for all my six and a half years at St Peters, there is certainly one thing I can take away from it – how to navigate my way through thick crowds.
After being in a crappy locker area for three years, I have learnt how to navigate paths to avoid people and how to assert myself and barge through, and this skill came in very handy in extremely crowded train stations, when I was dragging my pack and carrying another backpack. I can navigate luggage anywhere – thanks to my parents. I have always been travelling, I think I was kind of born wearing boots and was given a pack shortly after. I can figure my way out in most places, I can take suitcases on elevators, I can carry them on stairs – I can avoid patches of snow, trash and anything else. So with my parents influence and St Peters teaching, I ruled the stations.
But parental influence isn’t always a good thing. Despite what I just said about being able to find my way in any situation, there is always an influence that I am always battling. I like to call this “the Leaming genetic”. As I have mentioned my mother has absolutely no sense of direction – it’s kind of scary and I can’t believe she was ever able to travel by herself. Probably went one place and tried to get out of there for years, really.
Luckily, I also have the “Busine” genetic, and it appears to be the stronger one. Jonathon is “Leaming” through and through, but with Dad and I, we are always able to get where we are trying to go. But now, Auntie Mandy (also a Leaming) has arrived. This is three Leamings, and two Busines. I don’t like those numbers. It’s very dangerous to leave Auntie Mandy or Mum in charge of the subway map, as we have learnt. See…
This is Jonathon, Auntie Mandy and I waiting at Arlington station. Auntie Mandy took it upon herself to navigate us home…
And that’s us the second time in Arlington, after Auntie Mandy’s navigating skills led us right back to where we started. We had been walking for 15 km that day and all the escalators in Arlington Station we broken. That was fun.
Dad took over the navigating after that.
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