Train watching

After Sunday’s race, I went out to ride a few more miles. Much of the route was on narrow roads that cross through farmland. The weather was great, and I passed many people out for Sunday bike rides.

At one point I came to a railroad crossing to find maybe 30 people standing there, with cameras, obviously waiting for a train to pass. This was essentially in the middle of a field somewhere near the border with the Netherlands. I figured they must be waiting for some sort of special train, so I decided to wait too (I had my camera in my back pocket).


While waiting, one guy started talking, loud enough for all to hear, about something related to the train. I couldn’t understand most of what he said, but could tell from the way he was talking that he was, shall we say, “pontificating”. He bent down, pointed to something with the track, then pointed down the track, then made sure to say from which direction the train would come.

I moved over to the other side of the track, thinking a picture would be better from there. When the gate started to come down, Herr Know-It-All made sure to tell everyone to be careful. Then he yelled for me to move my bike out of the way. Crazy, since I was no closer to the track than anyone else.

No knowledge of German was needed here. This was the sort of person you roll your eyes at, independent of any language.

Finally, the train came by. It was an old steam train, with a few passenger cars.


I rode back to where the race was. The junior race was going on. People were now telling me to stay off the race course, though I showed no intention of riding on the course while the race was on.

Before coming here, a friend had told me about this preoccupation with telling people what to do. I thought he was exaggerating, but now I am starting to wonder.

PS: when I come back to the US, please make sure I am not dressing like this. Capri pants don't work for guys, and I cannot figure out why this is common here.