My experience coming here (on the train and on to the writers' conference at Colgate U.) a bit like the movie the Out of Towners. We get on the "Empire" train part of the Amtrak trip and and discover it is a 'commuter' train, kind of like the one in that movie Unfaithful, with Richard Gere (here I am mentioning movies again-- am too media oriented, as opposed to literature oriented). Well, there is no snack "cafe" car and therefore, no drinks. And in frustration, what do I do-- chew on a salty pretzel. The spouse wanted me to hurry up, though we had like 45 minutes in Penn Station for our train to arrive to go north. So I bought a souvenir and a Daily News, with info on the cover about crazy killings of soldiers in Iraq, and forgot my watered down soda in the store :( .
So I go to the bathroom and lo and behold, there is a faucet, but an odd one. You push "up" on it. I did that to get some water to put in my water bottle for my poor famished mouth and it started getting warmer. And warmer. And then hot. It wouldn't freaking shut off. I guiltily put a little water in my small stainless steel bottle I got from Big Lots and then, well, I figured I should contact a conductor. I went up and down 2 cars in front and 2 cars in back of ours and told a lady about my predicament in one -- she said the conductor went 'that a way' and if he came back this a way she would tell him my sad story.
Now at the writers' conference, I find I have no phone, no computer glasses, no pool, no pets (to quote the song "King of the Road"). You lose things in travel, you know?
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