Schinckel.net

I saw a great ad on TV tonight. It had a female cyclist walking her bike along ready to cross the railway tracks, and then cut to two young boys walking/playing along a section of track. The boys played with a ball, and then it cut back to the cyclist, as the lights started to flash, and she stopped at the crossing. The boys’ ball bounced ahead of one of them, and he ran to get it, the other heard the train coming, and moved off the track. The train was shown going right up to the boy, and then some Computer Graphics virtually made him turn to dust as the train would have hit him. The cyclist waited until the train had crossed, and then proceeded to cross the tracks, not seeing the train on the other set of tracks, coming from the other direction. The same CGI effect was used as she was hit by the train. I’d record and post the ad here, if I had a digital video recorder… The power of these ads was quite impressive. I catch the train, and I have to cross the track every morning and night. (There is an underpass at the other station I get off at). Whilst there is only one metro train track - the trains need to wait at a larger station if one of them is a little late - there is a second line, for interstate freight and passenger transport. It surprises me how often I see a kid get off the train, jump down onto the track and walk off along the track. And the thing about it is that doing that isn’t any quicker. I have seen kids do that, and leave the tracks at the crossing, at the same time I arrive there. I guess it’s just a need to do the wrong thing, but most of the time they are by themselves! The other morning I saw a kid walking along the track towards the station - I didn’t see from how far he walked along the rails, but it must have been a significant distance, as there are no houses or roads near where he came from. I can sort of understand someone getting off the train knowing there will be no train for at least 10 minutes (due to the single track), but unless the morning kid saw a train go past, he could not know how long it would be before the next train arrived. The one from 5 minutes ago could be late, and he might not realise in time…it scares the hell out of me. Not for my safety, but for the fact I would be the person who witnessed the accident. I would have to live with the consequences of a stupid kid being hit by a train in front of me…maybe I’m being selfish, but I don’t care. I actually have a fear of being hit by a train. I’m not sure why, but every time I walk across the track, I think that I will get my foot caught in the line, and not be able to move in time. I also don’t take my wallet out of my pocket until I am in the train, as I see myself dropping it, or my train ticket down the gap between the train and the platform. This means that at Adelaide Railway Station, I go through the gates, taking my wallet out, and putting my ticket into the machine. I then put my wallet away before I get to my train, and board the train, and then take my wallet out again. I think I’m crazy.