Sense of community

Since I am riding my bike to the train, I decided to go to the closer station.  Not sure why I thought I had to go all the way to Mountain View.  I think it was mainly because of the lack of stops out of Sunnyvale, but I double checked the schedule and I found some that worked out good for me.  Shaved about a mile or so off my morning ride. Not that I minded the ride, I so love riding my bike in the morning stillness

And even when I am running late, I am still early for the bullet train, which technically gets me into the city pretty early, but I actually don’t mind that. I can get a lot done here that early.

Before I started taking the earlier train, I would watch as the others would wait for the bullet. There was one woman that everyone said hello to. And I mean just about everyone walked by and had a conversation with her.  I was so curious about who she was and why she knew everyone

So now I am taking the bullet and this woman, Margaret, and I ride in the bike car together. And we got to talking, so I asked her if she worked with everyone. She said no, she’s been riding the same train every day for 4 years and the same people are all on the same train.  I said that is just so cool, how everyone knows everyone. And I found it so odd that I have taken the same train since 2015 and I see the same people every day at the Mountain View station, and there wasn’t this same sense of camaraderie on that train. Made me think for sure

I  mentioned that once I get my car back, I would drive to Mountain View station again because of the free parking. She then took out her phone and showed me where the free parking along the street was near the station. She said if I didn’t mind a little walk, it’s really close by.  I said I would check for it on my ride home Tuesday night.

Sure enough, there wasn’t any parking signs along the route she pointed out.  I thought, sweet, I can just come here in the morning instead of driving further into Mt View, and I can just take surface streets home instead of getting on the freeway.  It was like this amazing gift, finding out this information

Got another flat Tuesday night, so I got a ride to train yesterday. When I was waiting for my Lyft, Margaret rolled up and said hey, no bike today? We talked briefly and I told her I had confirmed the free parking.  She wished me luck with my bike repairs and rolled off

This morning, as I stood to wait for the train, the same people that said hello to Margaret, started saying hello to me too. Margaret and I got on the train and sat and talked. Others that knew her got on at different stations and joined us.  People who weren’t part of the ‘crew’ were included in the conversation just by virtue of sitting there with us, and they joined in too.

By the time we got to the city, we’re all laughing and having multiple conversations at once

It has been a really great way to start my day, surrounded by all sorts of lovely conversation and really nice people. What a huge difference from sitting in my seat, dozing off, and no one talking to anyone at the other station.

I am thinking unless I don’t need my car, I just might ride my bike to the station. I would miss out on this really cool community if I drove, and I think having this little band of people is a huge surprise and an unexpected blessing