19/11/2009 – Phillip Holt's World

Today I have had so many things go wrong, but the worse one has been my trusted Chinese dual phone, iPhone mobile phone giving up the ghost, becoming dead, stopping working, and I have had to dig out my old HTC Diamond, a mobile phone I am not that impressed with.

I am most unhappy, but what can I do? I have had the Chinese phone for about six months, and did not pay that much for it, it is a gadget and I enjoyed it whilst it lasted, it has broken, so I must get on with life.

If I went about from this moment on with a cloud over my head, to be in a depressed state, feeling sorry for myself, I would force myself into a deeper state of “nobody loves me“, “my phone does not work, what am I to do?“

It is just a phone, like other people, I can go back and be with my old companion, all I have to do is switch it on, put the sim card in, and away I go again.

It may seem strange at the start, getting used to the old ways, but if I put that strangeness to one side, and put a smile on my face, life will continue, and I will be happy, and after all, are you really interested in my problems? I doubt it.

Too often we try and draw other people into our unhappiness, our feeling of strangeness, our being unfamiliar with what we are, where we are or what we are doing, and try and bring others down into our state. I see this happen sometimes in my and other trainers courses. Perhaps one or two participants may not like the style of the training, may not understand what the trainer is giving them, and tries to influence the other participants, bring them down into their world of unhappiness. This is a situation I love, as then I can use my skills to correct the position.

Today I have had to do it on myself, change my state, use my Oh Poo Poo. I have too much to do to let a broken phone draw me down into the depths of unhappiness.

I must admit, when non British participants on my courses around the world laugh at the hobby of Train Spotting, as they can not understand why the British, and Germans and French, do it, or what joy they have from the hobby, I have often thought “why do todays train spotters do the hobby?“.

Catching the train into London’s Waterloo station in Central London on a fairly regular basis, we pass through the railway station of Clapham Junction, Britain’s and possibly Europe’s busiest station for train movements, with over 100 trains passing through per hour.

A Train Spotter at Clapham Junction
Whilst relaxing on the journey through Clapham Junction, I have often spotted Train Spotters standing on the platforms, photographing and noting down the details of the trains as they pass by. So, I decided to stop and talk to one and ask what do they get these days as against when I did it in my younger days.

I met John on another platform, who had traveled a considerable distance to spend the day in Clapham Junction, and he told me his story.

Having retired some years ago, he and his wife needed to take up a hobby to keep them occupied. His wife a keen photographer suggested they combined their two hobbies so they could travel and be with each other. Unfortunately his wife died, but John’s interest in trains had been reawakened, and now he travels the country Train Spotting.

John said that every Thursday he travels to Doncaster, another major British railway station, to pursue his hobby of Train Spotting, and there could be up to one hundred others there.

As I talked to John about what he gains from the hobby, I began to understand that each train which before today looked the same to me, had its’ own life, where it was made, how long it had been in service, what modifications had been made, what was the power of the motors, how many passengers would it sit and hold, where was its’ home base.

As I listened, I was taken in by John’s enthusiasm and knowledge. He told me why certain trains were built in the way they were, that nearly every train now new to Britain was built in other countries, Canada, Japan, Italy.

On my way home I visited a newsagent selling magazines, and in the hobby section, there seem to be more magazines for train enthusiasts than any other hobby, so there must be a demand for the information.

Come on the rest of the world, join us British and take-up the Train Spotting hobby. We are not that strange are we?

Train Spotter John at Clapham Junction.