Daily Prompt
Tunnel Vision
You’ve been given the ability to build a magical tunnel that will quickly and secretly connect your home with the location of your choice — anywhere on Earth. Where’s the other end of your tunnel?
Not that I want to be greedy or anything… OK, yes, I do want to be greedy. I want two tunnels, please – the first to pop up at my sister’s, where I’m 10 minutes max from each of my kids.
I’d like to have my car with me, so – a 15 minute drive, say? Instead of the 6 hours it normally takes. Just enough to adjust my thinking from solitary to sociable. Very handy, that would be. I’d be on hand to administer hugs, chicken soup, birthday presents, a listening ear… And maybe the odd stint of babysitting, as long as it wasn’t OTT.
Better still, though – I’d like it to be a two-way tunnel, so they could drop in on me when they felt like it. Come for a surf. Tell me what’s on their minds face-to-face instead of by phone. Escape the rat race for the afternoon. I may be a hermit, but family is different.
The second tunnel? London. Not by car, this time. Driving in London would be one challenge too many. Perhaps half an hour on the train would be best. Once again, time for adjustment, but not the 24 hours locked in an airborne tin can which is the current option.
I love London, but living there would undoubtedly kill me because of the weather, so easy access and a quick bolt at the first sign of cold and rain would suit me fine. York would do as well, thanks for asking…
helen meikle's scribblefest 
Good to be able to dream. Teleporting will be the next thing!
No, think I’d pass on that one.
Yes, I agree with the need for just a bit of time to make the adjustment from “solitary to socialable.” Well put.
The six-hour drive does work quite well for that. I arrive in Sydney subtley different.
Very clever! I like the idea of the two-way tunnel for the family, as sometimes I have felt that way too, with my Mom almost insisting on visiting.
We’d have to make sure, though, that the only people who knew about it were the ones we wanted to see.
Here in the USA, the administration would set the cost for a ticket to use the tunnel, allow one small carry on, compute cost for extra bags, require a full body scan, make you take off your shoes, keys, belt, anything metal, then wait while you watched the screen as it flashed “Tunnel Delayed”. Once in the tunnel you would wait for an All Clear. If you had one to London you would have to go through Customs only to be told, “you can’t bring that “diggitydo” here.
And if you had a kinder egg in your luggage in the US, it would be confiscated.
I’ll consider you a “good egg” if you’ll tell me “What in the world is a kinder egg? Is it from a “kinder” whatever that looks like” or is it a special egg that is kinder than regular eggs, assuming eggs can be kind.”
A kinder egg is a hollow chocolate egg with small plastic toy inside – also known as ‘kinder surprise’. They’re banned in the US on the basis that the toys might be a choking hazard for small children. Which strikes me as bizarre, when a 9y/o is allowed to handle a submachine gun.
Current administration thinking: Allow sub-machine guns. Allow Kinder eggs. Ban Children. Problem solved!
Nothing would surprise me!