Happy Anniversary!

Anniversaries are a good time to remember. But it's not the blog's anniversary so why did I remember this blog, you ask.
It's the Ninth of September- Happy Anniversary, Red and Green lines!

blue=supplement. orange= weekly issue

Read. came out with a supplement today. I think I'll send it home to an uncle who used to live in Dubai so he can see what the improved public transport system is like.

energy conservation

Sighted today at Khalid bin al Walid station: escalators switched off and the following sign placed at the foot and top of them

Turned off for Energy Conservation

(not in quotes because I did not take it down word for word. And since I was in a bit of a hurry, I didn't get a picture either.)

It wasn't peak hours, so nobody was forced to huff and puff up a flight of stairs.
Yay for energy conservation!

(also posted on http://pplofgreen.blogspot.com/)

Melody on the metro

Normally the sounds that form the soundtrack to a rail journey in Metropolis are the whooshing of doors, the clacking of heels, announcements in English and Arabic, multilingual chatter. If you want music, you need an iPod or mp3 player. Right?
Well, most of the time, right. But not on the 5th of June. That day, a little after noon on the Green line headed towards Etisalat, the PA system was used for something beyond the usual fare- a melody!
No idea what song that was. I think it was just one composition playing in a loop, like hold-please music.

What not to do when you want to save time

Note to self (and all and sundry)
When taking the Metro, do not think you can get places faster by changing lines. Tried it yesterday. We took the Green line to Union, then the Red to Khalid bin al Walid (bypassing all the Green stations between those two and saving time- or so we thought!), and then onto the Green again. The people who were with us on the train till Union and were once more fellow passengers from Khalid bin al Walid smiled at our foolishness.
Will probably need to test this at least once more.
However- lesson (for the time being) learned.

Musings while waiting for fellow blogger

Stories. I've always loved them.
Everyone has one. Every person taking the Metro. Every person standing on the escalators to get out of the deep blue that is Khaid bin al Walid station. Everyone.
Each person's story is important. And it's also important to be part of someone else's story. That's the beauty of knowing and being known by many people- the chance to be a character in several stories.
I read because I love stories. (And if the books and Kindles are any indication, there are kindred spirits travelling.) I think I listen too because I love stories. Stories real and unreal. Stories old and new, of man and animal and objects inanimate but alive.
All my life all I've wanted to do is record stories, not necessarily my own. For me it's not just about being a writer: it's being a storyteller.
 May the Metro provide much inspiration!
Live long and prosper!