{"id":29968,"date":"2015-03-15T01:00:39","date_gmt":"2015-03-15T05:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=29968"},"modified":"2015-03-08T10:04:59","modified_gmt":"2015-03-08T14:04:59","slug":"qotd-catching-a-train","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/2015\/03\/15\/qotd-catching-a-train\/","title":{"rendered":"QotD: Catching a train"},"content":{"rendered":"

We caught the train by the skin of our teeth, as the saying is, and reflecting upon the events of the morning, as we sat gasping in the carriage, there passed vividly before my mind the panorama of my Uncle Podger, as on two hundred and fifty days in the year he would start from Ealing Common by the nine-thirteen train to Moorgate Street.<\/p>\n

From my Uncle Podger\u2019s house to the railway station was eight minutes\u2019 walk. What my uncle always said was:<\/p>\n

\u201cAllow yourself a quarter of an hour, and take it easily.\u201d<\/p>\n

What he always did was to start five minutes before the time and run. I do not know why, but this was the custom of the suburb. Many stout City gentlemen lived at Ealing in those days \u2014 I believe some live there still \u2014 and caught early trains to Town. They all started late; they all carried a black bag and a newspaper in one hand, and an umbrella in the other; and for the last quarter of a mile to the station, wet or fine, they all ran.<\/p>\n

Folks with nothing else to do, nursemaids chiefly and errand boys, with now and then a perambulating costermonger added, would gather on the common of a fine morning to watch them pass, and cheer the most deserving. It was not a showy spectacle. They did not run well, they did not even run fast; but they were earnest, and they did their best. The exhibition appealed less to one\u2019s sense of art than to one\u2019s natural admiration for conscientious effort.<\/p>\n

Occasionally a little harmless betting would take place among the crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo to one agin the old gent in the white weskit!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTen to one on old Blowpipes, bar he don\u2019t roll over hisself \u2019fore \u2019e gets there!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHeven money on the Purple Hemperor!\u201d \u2014 a nickname bestowed by a youth of entomological tastes upon a certain retired military neighbour of my uncle\u2019s, \u2014 a gentleman of imposing appearance when stationary, but apt to colour highly under exercise.<\/p>\n

My uncle and the others would write to the Ealing Press<\/em> complaining bitterly concerning the supineness of the local police; and the editor would add spirited leaders upon the Decay of Courtesy among the Lower Orders, especially throughout the Western Suburbs. But no good ever resulted.<\/p>\n

Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men on the Bummel<\/em><\/a>, 1914.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We caught the train by the skin of our teeth, as the saying is, and reflecting upon the events of the morning, as we sat gasping in the carriage, there passed vividly before my mind the panorama of my Uncle Podger, as on two hundred and fifty days in the year he would start from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,41,237],"tags":[948],"class_list":["post-29968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humour","category-quotations","category-railways","tag-jkjerome"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hpV6-7Nm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29968"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29969,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29968\/revisions\/29969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}