Planes, Trains and Automobiles

My last three days without Beth went a bit quicker than the first two, since I had the distraction of long work days. I had dreaded turning up for work with my arm in a sling, but by the time my first shift started it had improved enough not to wear the sling at all. My shoulder actually loosened up during my shift, and as I was handling only light boxes of candy throughout it was almost as good as physiotherapy.

My third shift seemed to last forever, as I knew at the end of it that I'd get a text from Beth saying she had landed, and I'd immediately clock out and drive to pick her up from the airport. The text came at 10:28pm, and off I drove.

Compared to Heathrow, JFK, Seattle-Tacoma, or even Dublin Airport, Eugene Airport is like a child's toy, and considerately placed a few miles northwest of the city centre surrounded by fields, so we hardly ever hear an airplane despite being living 3 to 4 miles due east of  the airport. Beth was waiting at the main door, one of two passengers being collected (I'm sure there were others but I didn't see them), and after many hugs we set off home.

Our route took us over two sets of train tracks that pass through Eugene and curve North towards Junction  City, but happily no trains were running so we were not held up at the level crossings. Trains are a mixed blessing and curse for the city of Eugene. They help keep the city prosperous and provisioned (our own shipping arrived by train), but the drivers enjoy blasting their whistles late at night, and there is hardly a quarter of the city where they can't be heard. We heard them when we stayed Downtown at the Broadway Motel last Summer, we heard them at the Heron Meadows Apartments through the Winter, and we hear them here in Santa Clara. With no traffic noise and no aircraft noise to compete with, they are the loudest disturbers of the peace, though one that can be pleasant to hear when the drivers are not signalling to each other in morse code.

And so home. Beth was exhausted after a day travelling, and had never quite caught up on her jetlag in DC before flying back again, so we chatted only briefly before snuggling into bed.