A train whistle was honking in the distance when I stepped out of the house for a walk this morning.

A lonely train whistle was blowing in the distance when I stepped out of the house for a walk this morning.

Why are train whistles sort of romantic when they’re “lonely,” and really annoying when they just honk?

When I started getting up early in the morning to go for a walk, I was surprised at how many people were up and about before the sun came up, until one morning the nickel dropped. Hey, I’m up before the sun, too. Duh.

I’m still surprised by how much furniture is thrown out by the curb and stays there for weeks. You’d think after two or three days the people who put it out there would realized nobody’s going to stop and take a ratty old sofa home with them, especially after it’s half-buried in dirty snow.

And mattresses. What’s the deal with throwing mattresses by the side of the road? Do they do this where you live? Do the garbage trucks ever pick them up? Because they do this around here and, as far as I can tell, the garbage trucks don’t.

The train whistle was still honking when I got home from my walk. Or blowing lonely-ish. Whichever.