CAJUN MICROWAVE FOR SALE

Why is it that the impoverished and supposedly out-of-date railway system of America is so much more pleasant to use than our own? Ours is supposed to be a more modern system, isn't it? ...and more modern means better. After all, if something's more up-to-date it's bound to be an improvement, because history is progress and human life goes on getting better and better, doesn't it? I mean ...just look out of the window.
Constantly one is drawn to the conclusion that the modernisation of Britain's railway system was a fraud. It was all cosmetic ...a con-trick in which something nasty was disguised under a gimcrack, tuppenny-ha'penny, superficial appearance of modernity. Trains are shorter and have many fewer, more uncomfortable seats. If the trains are not actually overcrowded they are oppressively full. Places in these seats are, of course, much more expensive in both actual and relative terms than they used to be.
Out in the suburbs station buildings have been removed, leaving nothing standing above platform level. Even the roof of the footbridge will have been taken off to save a few pounds in maintenance costs. In the large stations all the furniture and fittings have been taken out and there is nowhere to sit down as you try to drink your paper cup of Coca-Cola and eat your ?2.98 slice of pizza, limp from being reheated in a microwave oven. Never mind, you can go and get a glossy brochure from that young man in the suit standing next to the shiny new Hyundai Sonata that's on display by the Costa Coffee franchise ... by where the seats used to be.
This lovely burnished, beaten metal doorcase is at the exit from Newark Station, New Jersey. In England it would have been ripped out and scrapped sometime in the 1970s, to be replaced by plate-glass doors and a plactic "fascia" featuring the BR "coming and going" logo. In my (admittedly limited) experience of American railways I am always impressed by the extent to which the original structure and fittings of station buildings have been retained and looked after. The public concourse will be tawny with wooden panelling. Art deco lamps hang just over your head, suspended from the ceiling a hundred feet above. The ticket window has a beautiful polished timber frame. The lift ...sorry, elevator... is spacious, with old-fashioned folding doors. Public seating is supplied on a lavish scale, in long rows of high-backed, solid wood benches, like a small cinema auditorium. The trains are comfortable with seats like armchairs. Conductors, usually men of senior years, are solicitous and efficient. I have known two of them provided on a three-coach train.
Always I remind myself just how much I disapprove of all this old-fashioned, inefficient wastefulness and thank my lucky stars that I live in a country where we enjoy the advantage of an efficient modern railway.

1. Microwave meals
2. Thrift stores
3. Starbucks Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino
4. Being lazy
5. Family
6. Talking on the phone with my Mom
7. Flip-Flops
8. Payday
9. The smell of tanning oil
10. Real log fires
11. The color pink
12. Traveling
13. Diet Coke
14. Art
15. "Are You There God It's Me Margaret" by Judy Blume
16. The first Nintendo
17. Champagne
18. Going out for drinks on a sunny spring afternoon
19. Having a great deep conversation
20. Superior Grill Margaritas
21. Silk Vanilla Soy Milk
22. The weekend
23. Bravo's Top Chef
24. My iPod
25. Planet Smoothie's Captain Kid
26. The Crimson Cafe
27. Oxy Clean
28. Popcorn with Parkay Butter Spray
29. Being the first one to take a spoonful of the brand new jar of peanut butter
30. Summer clothes
31. Henri Matisse
32. T-shirts
33. Photography
34. Not throwing anything away
35. Free samples
36. Grocery shopping
37. HBO on Demand
38. My handy-dandy notebook that no one can read
39. Brand new Crayola Crayons
40. My handwritting
41. Labello Lip Balms
42. Alabama Football
43. My dog
44. MSNBC
45. Andy Warhol
46. Free tanning bed sessions
47. Beautiful sunny days without a cloud in the sky
48. Giving baby clothes to charity
49. The Crack Machine with Erotic Photo Hunt
50. The University of Alabama
51. Morning Star Veggie Burgers
52. TCBY
53. The Melting Pot
54. Not caring about horoscopes
55. Laughing
56. Fresh Market
57. Staying in bed all day and ordering a cheese pizza
58. Martinis
59. Wrestling with my husband
60. Olive oil
61. Being confident
62. Music
63. Getting over it
64. When it does not rain and the Weather Channel says it will
65. The way the sky looks when summer starts feeling like fall
66. Waking up with the sun shining on my face
67. Lip gloss
68. NBC's The Office
69. When my husband comes home early
70. The beach
71. Writting so pretty on checks
72. Kool-Aid with Splenda
73. Stiletto heals
74. Kissing
75. Politics
76. Getting crunk with my husband
77. Indulging
78. Getting ready in 10 minutes
79. Flickr
80. Freestufftimes.com
81. Phillies Baseball Spring Training in Clearwater, FL
82. Museums
83. Kettle One Vodka
84. Paper plates
85. Not caring about details
86. Getting ideas
87. Delifrance
88. Whole Foods appetizers
89. When I get in my "Tree-Hugger" kick
90. Tom Petty
91. Viva Paper Towels
92. My Miss Sixty Jeans that I've had for years
93. Self Magazine
94. Laughing when I am nervous
95. When I stop thinking and just have fun
96. A big purse full of crap
97. Room service
98. Hardee's Cheese Biscuit with a Large Diet Coke for breakfast
99. A big box of Chocolates for my birthday, anniversary, Valentine's Day, etc
100. When I finally get the film in my Holga
101. Zwitsal Baby Toiletries

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