Public transport, Stanley Tucci and the collapse of the Tangent Universe

Thanks to a radiology consultant colleague of mine, I was not too long ago banished to an NHS Foundation Trust Londoners affectionately call Guy's and Tommies. Just for two weeks mind you, so that I may observe how they run their department, forge long lasting professional bonds and collaborate writing academic nursing articles with them after some time, his words not mine. In practical terms this meant I had to venture out of my beloved car Shakira Junior and pay a ridiculously gigantic lump of cash to travel by London Transport. I noticed something strange, other than the lingering smell of urine, damp and decaying rodents, in the heating vents that is.

People are completely cut off from one another, barriered by some sort of device fashioned to entertain individuals. Be it a mobile phone, PSP, MP3/4 player, a book, a magazine or a newspaper. It seems to have gone to the extent that people can't even look eachother in the eye anymore before they start panicking. Mind you I'm just as guilty of this, I refuse to board any form of public transportation without something in my bag to fill my time. It's ridiculous really, I have my phone, in case nobody picks up, I have my ipod, in case the battery is dead I have my trusty Marxism for beginners cartoon book. More often than not there are days where nothing seems to go my way and all the technology contained in my bag fails and my book has gone AWOL. I then, for the duration of my journey will be balancing on the edge of my seat, eyes bulging, pupils dilated, knees shaking, fingernails bitten back to their beds.

Could it be that we have become too scared to be left alone with only our thoughts as company? Or perhaps the likelyhood that our minds will spontaneously implode with nothing left to fill our empty skulls deter even the most solitary inclined of us from being alone with our thoughts? Whatever it may be due to, people at bus stops these days look like mirthless zombies, programmed to fill each and every second of their lives with other people's creations, thoughts and ideas. I personally blame the excess of technology available. I remember a time, not too long ago, may I add I'm almost merely two and a half decades old, when my weekends were filled with jumping on my bike and cycling with my mates down to the local and only bibliotheek (library) picking up seven books to read in seven days, or running around outside using our vivid imaginations to create alternate realities hidden behind intergalactic portholes harbouring creatures with tentacles as long as our imaginations, endurance quests ending high up in tree branches, and afternoons spent fighting battles in the neverending war with the seedy neighbourhood kids that attended The Triangle School

A random nonsense fact -

I have fallen head over heels for Julia Child's (Streep) husband played by Stanley Tucci in Julie & Julia. I've never thought of Tucci in that way but the ever so patient husband, a mellowing accompaniement to Julia's almost bipolar like ... strange personality, speaks to me. All through watching the film I couldn't contain the urge to want to just reach out, get a hold of that bald head of his and plant a smacker on him. Strange, very strange.

Speaking of weirdness I visited the donnie darko movie website it has been years since I saw that film, but that site is even crazier than the film.