Tussenstation

[Appy]

Het verleden, niet naar kijken

De toekomst, erg onzeker

 

Ik zit op het tussenstation

De rookpaal braakt vieze luchtjes uit

Ik steek er nog een op

 

Het verleden, geen nut om aan te denken

De toekomst, vol potentie

 

Waar blijft de trein?

 

 

~Something that came up on the train..~

 

The past, don't look at it

The future, very insecure

 

I'm on the in between station

The smokingpillar spills smelly fumes

I light another

 

The past, no use thinking about it

The future, full of possibilities

 

Where's the train?

 

~I apologise for the bad translation, some things aren't working either like the smoking pillar.. on european stations you now have area's where you can smoke, and the rest is smoke free.. these are pillars on dutch trainstations, hence that word.~

[Mardrax]

'...maar nergens heb ik een bordje "einde rookzone" gezien!'

 

 

Praise the future and it's possibilities.

[Quincunx]

I don't know what a 'smoking pillar' is either, but with the fine alliteration in the translation (and your wise idea to jam the words together in English, which keeps the string of S's whole) it works well enough. I can't comment on the accuracy of translation.

[Zadown]

Smoking pillar = a chimney?

[Appy]

I'll see if I can take a picture of one next time I see one. It's not a chimney, it's merely a point on the station around which you are allowed to smoke.. aka the smokingzone. And on dutch trainstations it's marked by a pillar in which you can dump your cigarrette butts (or however you spell that).. this pillar is ALWAYS smoking on its own because people dump in their butts without putting them out first.

 

*hopes to have cleared it up a bit)

[GeldrinHor]

Ahhh...a smoking pillar is a concrete and sand ashtray.

 

They usually have them outside buildings in most places in the US. Some taller than others.

 

In California, for example, they are a minimum 20' from the front door of most buildings now.

 

While here in my home state (well, home for now) of Oregon, they are usually right nxt to the doors.

 

As I recall, most European train station that allow smoking in any areas are the open air type (meaning the sides are opened for incoming and outgoing trains and pedestrians, but there is usually a roof overhead to keep out rain and such.

[Mardrax]

No, they aren't concrete and sand ashtrays. Though they are ashtrays. Usually they're fairly high (7' or just over) and narrow (the size of a normal streetlight post or so).

 

They are usually positioned away from the stairs that lead on to the platform. Above and below ground isn't an issue as trains (in the Netherlands, anyway) are always above ground. Subway stations are usually below ground in the larger cities. Smoking is prohibited altogether on those subterranean stations. Subway stations above ground in the networks I've seen allow smoking anywhere in them. But it's the trainstation which gave rise to these smokingpillar things, as the only place where people are allowed to smoke there are in the area around (how far around? no one knows, it seems) those pillars.

 

To save Appy the trouble of digging up her camera on a trainstation:

http://www2.jeanneke.nl/plaatjes/rookpaal.jpg

http://www.chavannes.nl/foto/gallery/origineel/rookpaal.jpg

there's two, smoking and all

The blue band on top with the cigarette says "rookzone", or "smoking zone".

 

And indeed, the translation could have been better, but it works

Edited March 2, 2007 by Mardrax

[Appy]

Thanks Mar, for the explanation and the photo's. Digging up my camera would've been.. difficult

 

*poofs towards dutch trainstations*