What a difference a week makes!

The Met lives! Thanks in no small part to my new friend Absnut, of this board, my subway line is running as smooth as good scotch! You may recall from last week that I was having problems with consistency, but those problems seem to be in the past. Our colleague rushed to my rescue and with some timely advice, and a spare part or twenty, The Met now travels its little route under my table with nary a hitch or a glitch!

I was so pleased that I began working on the subway station. Using MSPAINT, I designed some signs to hang in appropriate places and then decided I needed a good looking tile for the back walls of the station. Again, using MSPAINT I created a faded yellow tile background of the type found in some of the older stations in Boston. I tried white, but I thought the yellow looked better. Then I created a sign that reads Beaufield, which is the name of the city. I think I will change that though, since the whole system is in Beaufield. "Downtown", "City Center", "Whatever Station"...all are possibilities. Can you tell I haven't decided on a name for the station yet? Somehow "Union Station" seems a little presumptuous, but that is the leader in the clubhouse as of right now. Grand Central Terminal was taken. The subway platform will be configured so that a train runs on either side of it, rather than having two platforms with both tracks between them. I am currently investigating different types of lighting for this area. Presently I am leaning toward some kind of recessed ceiling lights, but I am open to better ideas. Whatever I choose, it will need to be bright, since the station will be covered on three sides and the top.

Oh and as a small diversion, I bought some bamboo skewers and a scouring pad and tried to make one of Michael's trees. I had a lot of trouble (in fact I failed) separating the pad into four layers. Either he has the patience of Job, or he had a different type of pad. Whichever the case, I did manage to get some scraps that were thin enough and I created a fir tree! I was pleased with it for a first effort, though I suspect that future trees will be better, and that this one will be relegated to the far side of some hill. Turns out the Joyce Kilmer was wrong after all.

Till next time:

Al