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At the Normal station, four men on the train mocked the construction worker on the right, because he appeared to have no shirt on, though he was actually wearing a muscle T. "Come on, tough guy! Show us your tattoo!" one of them shouted, though his voice never penetrated beyond the lounge car. They also had a good laugh at the sight of four contruction workers standing around while one worked. "That's your tax money at work for you!" Done with the workers, they turned their attention to the venus of willendorf in the second photo. "That's a classic, boys! That's as good as it gets!"

One of these days, I will have to get off the train to investigate Normal. Like every other town or city, it looked fascinating. Evelyn Waugh wrote, "There is no place that isn't worth visiting once." I'll amend that to say, "There is no place that isn't worth visiting a bunch of times, with each subsequent visit richer than the last."


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