conversation

traveller "...

There is now a low buzz of conversation in the carriage as evening turns. [notebook: Virgin Trains London Euston service 10 March 2004 5pm]

The elderly man and lady [at my table] start to chat. [They are both] very well spoken. She asks about the train: "I have heard lots of horror stories about [this train operator]"... "They usually are quite unfounded." He responds. "Not usually late... may have work on the line... a lot of it is Network Rail not [the train operator]..." He says he used to take National Express coaches, but he is tall and when he got off could barely walk. [notebook: Virgin Trains 1st Class London Euston service 14 July 2004 8am]

system

No information.

ethnographic guide

Talking with others establishes a shared experience, a shared time, a shared journey. The work of making a journey is done by the flow of the conversation. Even overhearing a conversation makes a journey. Conversations are often begun by a shared experience, for example, a shared delay, a shared appreciation of a news item, the recognition of a shared journey (when, for example, the train is not scheduled to stop for some time).