:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/65087962/1162220059.jpg.0.jpg)
Hello, Hoddlers!
Another day, another random thing on my brain.
Ramble of the Day
As you might know by now, I take a lot of trains. The experience is mixed, but mostly fine. It’s all good, really. There’s just a pretty weird thing about me: I don’t really like running for them.
It’s not that I haven’t, or that I always try to afford enough time so I don’t have to. I just don’t like to do it. It’s not particularly weird to not enjoy being in a rush, but I will prefer to play the risk, walk at whatever speed I feel like and see if I end up catching a train or not. There’ll always be another one in my part of the world (I couldn’t get away with this in a place where trains shut down after a certain time), so unless I’m desperate to get home — exhausted or actually needing to get there by a certain time for a certain reason — I’m not going to rush.
It’s all about trying to find enough time in between getting on a platform and getting in a train, really. It’s only a few minutes that I need. I don’t want to stand in place waiting for a train for too long, but a few minutes to go down a staircase, find a decent spot on the platform to stand, and then stand for a few moments before the train shows up is great. As a result, I work like this will always be the case, sort of like the idea that if you believe it, it’ll happen. It’s not actually a practical way to go about this, but if I know that eventually, another train will show up, I have the wiggle room to play around.
It actually reminds me of this article I read once: “There Are Two Types of Airport People,” by Amanda Mull for The Atlantic. Very simple, the premise is that there are people who like being (perhaps extra) early to airports, and then those who enjoy the rush of being late, and the article mostly focuses on the second type. In practice, I’m the first; I’ll choose to be early, especially because I actually really like airports. Outside of airports, though, I’m always looking for the sweet spot. Early enough to have just enough time to mull over all of the small decisions I have to make, but not so early that I’m the first one in a place, or waiting around for whatever it is I’m waiting for to begin.
Getting the timing perfectly right is much easier said than done, and there have been plenty of times where I’ve been later than I’d like (mostly never earlier, at least in recent memory). I am starting to begin to learn the lessons of accounting for necessary wiggle room/travel woes, so I’m venturing towards the sweet spot with extra time, but I find it’s better than having less time — at least on the way to a place. On the way back, all bets are off.
tl;dr: Trying to find the balance between early, on time, and late.
Links of the Day
Former Bury director Joy Hart has shackled herself to a drainpipe as a protest aimed to save the club from expulsion.
Bolton manager Phil Parkinson and his assistant have resigned as the club remains in administration.
Iraq has been cleared by FIFA to host World Cup qualifiers in Basra ahead of the 2022 men’s tournament.
Inter Miami’s stadium site has arsenic in the soil, with levels that exceed twice the legal limits.
Transfer updates: Fiorentina has signed Franck Ribéry on a free; Trabzonspor has signed Daniel Sturridge on a free; Roma has signed Davide Zappacosta on a season-long loan from Chelsea
Today’s longer read: Josh Weinfuss on American second division side Phoenix Rising’s One Dollar Beer Nights and the team’s 13-0-0 record on those nights for ESPN