The Tangled Branch Discussion Forums

Transport and Perception

Choose wisely the transport you take
for it shapes your whole perception.
It's the same world, the same you,
the same eyes watching.  But...

Large aircraft isolate, despite the fat man
sharing your armrest, dripping with nerves
and making you think...
"Is his sick bag really big enough?".

Small aircraft, if you're the pilot, 
make flying so intimate, so immediate,
that things of the ground become irrelevant
until the wheels bump you back to 'reality'.

Cars cocoon and isolate, a mechanical haven
with stereophonic surround sound.
Turn on the radio and aim for point 'B'.
You'll probably get there.

Motorcycles, like small aircraft, can be intense.
Total privacy inside your helmet,
with the world streaming past.  Snapshot moments,
people and places, stored for later recall.

Trains, like large aircraft, isolate you but let
the scenery unfold slowly.  Little villages,
a curve in a river, a narrow boat on a canal.
Like watching a film with the sound turned off.

A rowing skiff on a meandering English river,
lofty cattle towering on the banks alongside.
Splash of oars, creak of rowlocks, fish below,
and an eye level meeting with an aloof Swan.

Choose wisely the transport you take,
whether for necessity or pleasure.
Nothing is ever quite the same 
when you see from a different viewpoint.

Gyppo

Nicely done G. The reader hooked by each quirk of perception and experience that the various transport offered. I remember my bus journeys to work, long and tedious, until I learnt how to read on a bus without feeling sick. When I learnt to drive then it was being cocooned in stereophonic surround sound when stuck in traffic jams. As you say, days, experiences shaped by our modes of transport. Opportunity for another stanza now that exercise must start from home? Like being in the old  medieval village where the serf never strayed far!

This has a 'larger than the sum of its parts' feel to it.
It prompts me to look closer (especially in the final two lines) into my 'journey', and how others might see things differently.
And of course, any passengers/companions should be chosen wisely too 
Nice observations and an enjoyable read Gyppo.
Motorbikes and trains get my vote.
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Cheers, Matty and Colm.

I'm glad it 'worked' for you.

Over the years I've become increasingly aware of how our perceptions, of others and our surroundings, change with our viewpoint and our own mental stance.

Sometimes this helps me see things from another's viewpoint, and sometimes not at all.

I'm trying to avoid 'lockdown thinking'.  Which means travelling back through time.  Those moments in the rowing skiff come from fifty years ago.  At the time I didn't realise they would leave such a deep mark.

Gyppo
 

Wonderful, Gyppo.

I love the detail, and the easy flow.
Your descriptions of the modes of travel are spot-on.
Your list is longer than I first anticipated -- skiff. Yes.

Cheers.

T

Hi Gyppo,

So many wonderful lines in this write:
 
...dripping with nerves
...privacy within a helmet with the world streaming past
... train rides like watching a film with the sound turned off

I took the whole ride through all the modes with pleasure--

another mode of travel that can really change one's perception is walking somewhere you've always passed by in some kind of vehicle. Eye opening!