I‘m pushing cars into Hendler Paper in Mingo Jct as the simulated night grows deeper and the session winds down. There are two spurs here, shipping 1 and shipping 2, and I’ve got to sort my mixed cut onto the correct ones. No problem since I see a slick way to do it.

It’s been a fun night. Even though attendance was a little on the light side, we’re moving most of the trains. Further, my buddy/rival is running the board and having a bad night. Harris Glen was locked up tighter than the Grinch getting twisted up in a chimney at one point. And that’s the fun of it – the laugh at his expense. I had run a per diem cut over to Calypso and got a front row seat at the melt down.

But I’ve been running pretty good and feel pretty smug about things. The rest of the guys were done and packing up, but I want to shunt everything away before locking up the building and heading home. So while they chat in the open area, I toss the final cut onto the final track and back the units clear, so nice.

Then I look at the cards. And the cars. And then I realize that somehow I’ve pretty much gotten half the boxcars on the wrong shipping tracks. A total scramble. I don’t know how it happened. It’s like a magician snapping out flags of all nations and two eggs and a rabbit slip out of his sleeve. I just looked at the mess, heard everyone impatiently shuffling their feet, and decided to leave it – I’ll 0-5-0 it correct next work session.

Pride before the fall, right?

>>>THE MAIN CHARACTER OF EARLY RETYREMENT IS PROUD, AND THEN HE FALLS 2300 YEARS INTO THE PAST. SEE WHAT HAPPENS!<<<