Notes Found/Left On A Train

Hello there Splodgaroos! 

Today I got my train back after dodging the rain in Lancaster and somehow managing to buy some jeans, a top and some glue and then have an impromptu and spontaneous hot chocolate with Bernadette. 

There were some pretty cool things along the journey- firstly when I sat down, I found this bit of paper: 

For those of you who may be unable to decipher the handwriting, it says "Never let the fear of striking stop you from playing the game" which I think was someone's attempt at leaving an inspiring quote for the next journey maker to sit in that spot. Which would've been great, but I'm not entirely certain what it means- sure there's a "Don't let a fear of failure stop you from acting at all" message, but I think there is a subtle difference between my interpretation and the words actually used that I can't quire put my finger on. I think its something to do with the use of the word strike- perhaps this is a quote from something that I don't recognise? It seems to be a baseball metaphor, but as baseball is not really a game that is popular here, and if it is a baseball metaphor I can safely assume either (1) it was left by a person from a country or culture where baseball is popular and/or (2) this is a quote from a film that I have not seen.

...Or perhaps I am thinking too deeply into this? ...regardless I left a note of my own that I thought was a lot less ambiguous in the hope that it might stir somebody into taking some sort of action. But I won't tell you what it said, that'd spoil the mystery! 

As I sometimes do when I have nothing to occupy myself, I made some paper birds out of a sheet of paper from my notebook. Not long after I had completed the second one, a huge number of children got on the train (I think perhaps at Ulverston, but I wasn't really playing close attention because I knew I had a really long time before I was due to get off the train) and as I had been rather greedy with the space I had to move my coat and bag so some of them could sit down. They quickly became interested in the birds and when I told them they could have them if they wanted they got very excited (they being 3 boys somewhere between the ages of 11 and 13) and started throwing them at/to each other and mis-pronouncing the word origami as "orij-ammy" which caused me a great deal of amusement as I pretended not to look and listen, using the reflection of the window and my over sized earphones as cover for my subtle spying. 

Here are some things that I deemed picture worthy during my train journey-

a rainbow that was really bright, but you can hardly see it here because of the light coming from the other side of the train reflected in the window I was sat next to.

Shortly after this (and I'm talking about a minute whilst I changed the podcast on my phone) I looked up and we were riding through what appeared to be a torrential downpour. Weird. 

This is a lighthouse! I just thought it looked nice on top of the hill. Needless to say the rain had stopped by then.

I tried to get a picture of the sun setting, but this was the best I could do! I thought the water looked quite interesting though. 

These are the originals, but I might try to instagram them... I'm still not entirely sure that instagram isn't just for pictures of my culinary creations but I'll certainly give it a go at using it properly.

Ever found a note left on a train? Maybe you've left one yourself? Let me know in the comments :) 

***Also I'm nearing the 5000 views mark on this blog! thanks to everyone for your continued readership!! *** 

Today, this is me during what I thought would be the only 30 seconds of the day that it wasn't raining in Lancaster: 

See you tomorrow!

-Rosa

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