TLPTPW - The I just won edition

Why? Well they weren't like protests here, probably. You didn't let the police know ahead of time there was going to be one for a start, or everybody would have been pulped to various degrees before even unpacking their banners. It was a three hour exam... three hours is a long time doing something deemed illegal once the news reached the SAPD. Perhaps if someone else had paid my uni fees I would have felt obliged to get a piece of paper to show for it, but I paid them myself by working as an articled clerk with a firm of accountants, and I figured that what I'd learned wasn't just going to fall out of my head when I stood up and left the exam room. And guess what, it didn't :) I'd never wanted to do the stupid degree anyway, but was unable to do what I wanted so got shoved down that root just because I was good with numbers :)

*"oh" blink* The cause didn't have much use for those type of professional skills, Chris - not that I knew of anyway and not at that point. I've never regretted doing the degree and the work - it gave me an insider's view of something rotten that not many people get to see without huge amounts of money they want sequestered away - which is where my and their viewpoints would have gone their separate ways. Yes :) But I will always be happy that I abandoned that exam :)

edit for list of why's:

I've never been bored since :)

I got to come here and meet you island people on your home turf :)

I didn't turn into something scarier than a doctor's receptionist :)

I'd have to redo both the law and the tax component, even with the piece of paper, so with the uni fees here, no I wouldn't be better off and would flop between bored stiff and utterly outraged for the rest of my days ;)

I don't know if they're even comparable really. I know I wasn't enamoured of how things were done there then, and I know at times, I'm not particularly enamoured of the way things are done here either ;) The only common thing between those two states of being unenamoured that I can think of, is that they both have politicians  running things ;) ... *sidestep oi* and you know - corporate interest groups... but you could probably say that about almost everywhere :)

I've just remembered why I originally came in... which is why this edit is here... we have bats living in our garden :) It could be the best news we've had for awhile :)

Could I call armed battlements for keeping landlords away a belfry do you think? ;)

[Suppressing urge to counter-rant against Trump voters]

Copied from my post last night in Seti's Train Thread:

RPO Days at the museum. Celebrating the history of the Railway Post Office. These cars didn't merely carry mail, they had Postal Service clerks sorting it en route. At every small town along the line, a bag of mail for local delivery would be put off and outgoing mail put on, then sorted by destination. And if the train didn't stop there, no problem. The clerk would kick the mailbag off the side of the train as it passed, and the outgoing bag would be suspended on a crane close to the track. An arm would be extended from the RPO car to catch the bag as the train sped by. The last active RPO route (with sorting on board) was Washington & New York on a late night Amtrak train, ending in 1977. Most RPO routes were terminated by the 1960s, and the Post Office switched the highly lucrative (for the railroads) bulk mail haulage to trucks in 1968 (this haulage had been the only reason for many passenger trains to continue to exist by then, and the loss of these contracts and the subsequent flood of discontinuance applications to the Interstate and many state Commerce Commissions led directly to the creation of Amtrak).

We had a number of retired RPO clerks on hand, catching our mailbags as the steam coach train passed the depot in both directions. To facilitate this, I had to dispatch the train in as unusual manner. The typical order was "1630, you have a 1:00 departure west to West Switch, east on the Main, meet [whichever electric train or more likely nothing] at Johnson, to the Grove. Westbound, meet [whichever electric] at Johnson, short turn West Switch, and return to 2." Saturday, we had two electrics, North Shore 749/251 and CTA 41/22. I was conductor on 41 in addition to dispatcher. To keep 1630 moving frequently, my plan was to send out one electric or the other at 20 minutes past the hour, meeting 1630 at Johnson. The next hour, the other electric would do it. However, there is an old saying that no plan, no matter how carefully formulated, ever survives first contact with reality (or something like that). Between wanting to get something moving before 1630 was ready, and 1630's crew wanting a lunch break, things tended to get out of sequence. On top of that, 749 returned from its end-of-the-day throttle puller trip with a hot box on 251. Also, somebody (not me) did something naughty and will likely be suspended.

Sunday, I went to a railroadiana show (where I bought yet another ticket punch, a switch key, and a book) on my way out and had scheduled myself to arrive at noon. 1630's conductor was only too happy to hand off dispatching to me and also had enough trainmen, so I just sat in front of the depot and dispatched all day. CA&E 431 had burned off a motor lead leaving the yard, so the North Shore train was substituted for it. However, it turned out the repair to 251 was unsuccessful and the journal was hot again by the time they got to Johnson westbound. I had them wait there while 1630 started another trip and I went to track down the Electric Car guys. When 749 limped in (through East Switch), they checked it with the infrared and said yup, it's hot again. It went back to the Pit and 431's erstwhile partner 409 was mated to 460 instead. This train also finished with a throttle puller trip, for which I went along for the ride. Then I went on the test trip for 251, which turned out to STILL not be fixed. It reached 284 degrees F by the time we crawled back in at sunset. Even with my late start, I only had ten minutes left on my Hours of Service as dispatcher when I got to the office to sign out.

I think I will be perfectly content to not dispatch next weekend. Saturday is Chicago Day. Four trains on the Main, plus a shuttle (if it gets a crew) and two streetcars. I signed up for conductor on the Green Hornet, but the motorman didn't pass the rules exam. I said if it was canceled, I was willing to be coach conductor instead. Student conductor can do all the hard work for me.