[*LOUD train horn*]
[*wind against microphone*]
So we made it to Corrour
Which is, I admit the whole time
The one station that I was really, looking
forward to coming to
I have memories, of Corrour and Scotland
I've never done Scotland by train before, but I've done it by car
I've made .. four, fix, six journeys in my life
including the highlands, around Scotland
the beautiful place that it is, but always by car
One of the first times that I came though was in nineteen ...
... ninety, I was eighteen years old
actually, this week that we're filming this
It's my birthday in a couple of days time
i'd just turned 18, so it's the same week, twenty-seven years ago
err, in 1990 that I first came down here
and that is possibly where my fascination for railways
came from, because I remember we were driving down the road
past, and we went past these places and I remember seeing road signs for
places like, Rannoch .. Spean Bridge
and Bridge or Orchy, places that we passed through today on the train
and I said to my friend that I was with at the time
I remember saying, can we just drive up the path and go and visit
Bridge of Orchy station, and of course ... I got accused
of being a trainspotter
But I'm not into trainspotting, I'm really not
but I didn't realise that at the time, something in me
just wanted to go and see a station you know, that was
up .. built .. in these Scottish highlands
out in the middle of nowhere, but I didn't really know that at the time
it was years later and the film 'Trainspotting' came out
and that's why we're doing this here today, at Corrour
'cause it's known as the location of Trainspotting
it took me years later, to work out that really I was interested in
permament way, and, and the way that connections
maps and lines are built, and the history of that
and part of me just always ...
really wanted to come to Corrour ... and see it
and sort of finally lay to rest that sort of
eugh - you're a nerd from twenty-seven years ago, because I am a nerd
but I'm sort of a nerd in my own special way
and that was really my message that I wanted to say, is that it's OK
to be a nerd, if you are a trainspotter - that's great
if you like locomotives, that's great
if yout just like maps and connections and lines like i do, that's great
and don't be afraid to say that, and like that, and when I was 18
I didn't get that
and at somepoint in the last twenty-seven years I managed to work that out
even maybe now in my 40's
a tiny bit of me that doesn't always admit ... but i'm admitting it now on camera
so if you like doing that, if it's what you want to do
go ahead, and do it ... which applies, to all of life really
as long as what you're doing
importantly ...
doesn't harm anyone, but makes you happy, then do it
so .. screw what anyone else says
do what you want to do
choose to have your own adventure
choose to do whatever it is that makes you happy
in this case
choose trains
in my case, choose railways
and right now ...
Choose Corrour
[*music starts playing*]