Three lists of things seen from the train
And a detour in a footnote
Whenever I get the train, as I did on Friday, my two favourite activities to do are codeword after codeword after codeword puzzle. Or, nothing at all other than gaze out of the window.
I’m not sure it would be particularly interesting of me to share the codeword puzzles. So, I thought I’d type up a few sightings from three of the train journeys I’ve taken over the last twelve months, including Friday’s.
Southampton to Bristol, Wednesday 1 November 2023
3 deer with white bottoms
1 hovering kestrel
sheep
cows
the Westbury White Horse
donkey
pony
cormorant on a branch above the Avon
willow trees
bird nests
Is there anything more magical than seeing deer from the window? It even means you get permission to break the ‘don’t talk to anyone else on the train’ code to say, ‘Look! Deer!’
Birmingham to Winchester, Tuesday 10 September 2024
Allotment
Buddleja
Christian Resource Centre
Digger
Embankment
Farm
Golf course
Haystack
I
Junction
K
L
Mechanic
N
O
Pylon
Q
Red kite
Sunflower field
Toposcope
U
V
Willow tree
X
Yellow line
Z
An attempted but unfinished A to Z. Who cares about X and V when there’s toposcope and willow tree?1 Although I’ll admit to missing the level crossings, landscapes, livestock, and locomotives.
Southampton to Bristol, 6 December 2024
Two herons in a field
A sheep, a pony
Cormorants
Bright, bright, bright, bright green fields
Bonus content:
I read this out to my partner and he said, ‘How did you see a toposcope?’ I don’t know, but I did, okay? Because I saw it, wondered what the word for it was, searched ‘direction sign viewpoint thingy’, and thus added toposcope to my vocabulary. I tried to prove it to him by finding said toposcope on the map, but the ones close to the railway tracks were actually triangulation stations (coincidentally, a term that cropped up in some editing work this week – so odd when that happens). So, I took a look at those ones on Google Maps, and jumped into street view to see if I could see ‘the one’ but it landed me here:
So now I’ve given up trying to find the toposcope/triangulation station, and I’m on a new mission to see what’s up with this bridge.
To (probably not) be continued …
