Seven-minute hours

I was stuck on trains again last week. With seven minutes between connections in Fulda, my train from Frankfurt left 20 minutes late, and after they closed the doors for good we were informed that construction work meant we would delayed a full hour. On the way back I missed my train, and had to wait an hour in the dark cold for the next one in Middle-of-Nowhere, Germany, where most of the trains slam past without thought of stopping. Don’t listen to those who complain about the country’s low birthrate. The platform was alive with young people and their junk food and their cursing and their bad fashion decisions.
Very reassuring.

The upside was I chomped through a goodly portion of "The Pickwick Papers," and even listened to two New Yorker fiction podcasts: Richard Ford reading John Cheever’s “Reunion” (12 mins), and Joshua Ferris reading George Saunders’ “Adams” (22 mins), both of which involve fathers. The stories are short and have a great punch, and I recommend listening to them (and the discussions that follow) with all my heart.