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The most political game I ever played. When my family would buckle down in either the wood panel Mercury stationwagon or the Chrysler caravan, one thing was for sure- we were playing the train game.It was simple. Mom usually had the paper and pen so she was the one who recorded the votes. As a token way of getting us to pay attention and to actually do something while driving between either Vancouver and Revelstoke, or Calgary and Vancouver- we played this game. A game which started off having one basic rule- �Pay attention and say when you see a train- then that one will be counted towards the original guess by you�, turned into a rather political game. Almost thought we were in the House of Commons arguing about different interpretations of rules and laws. After my brothers and I had aged a little, and had gone through a couple years of education, we started to get a little wiser- therefore a little more political in our rules. 1. You had to SEE the train. 2. More than one person had to SEE the train. 3. Was it a Monday? A Sunday? Was it a long weekend? (days of the week made a HUGE difference in how many trains we saw- if any). 4. What if you only heard it or only saw the smoke in the trees? Does that count? We never got any prizes- we only had the satisfaction of the fact we won the game. That satisfaction itself, was usually better than any material good. I grew up around trains really. My great grandparents had a close tie in with CPR. My great grandpa was a train engineer, great uncles were firemen, and great cousins part of the team. My great grandpa�s striped overalls and engineer hat still hangs in their old house in Revelstoke. There was never anything more exciting than driving along the Trans Canada Highway through the Rogers Pass and seeing a train come through the MacDonald tunnel. It was even better if it was the Rocky Mountaineer. Occasionally, we would pull over and wave at the trains going by. We were always so excited to see them wave back. Although I have grown a little older, a little wiser, and a little less childish, this game is still played. I drove to Vancouver a couple years ago with two friends, en route to see Dave Matthews Band in concert- I busted out the pen and paper and we played the game. Oh yah- they thought I was off my rocker. When I grow up- I want to be a train engineer. Sounds odd, but what job would give you a better chance to see the mountains, from the inside out? Then maybe I would bust out my grandpa�s striped overalls. For sure, if I have kids, they are playing this game. And even if everyone else in the car thinks its totally lame, I�ll play it by myself. Posted by Bella at 12:10 PM# 0 Comments:
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