There is something strangely satisfying about going on a roller coaster. you scream. you try and smile against the G-force when the obligatory camera flash goes off and (in my case) hope you won't be sick when you get off. It makes me smile every time. It's the anticipation of climbing up the rails and that first drop when the car actually leaves the rails for a split second and you are plummeting to your death. it must last all of 0.2 seconds but still, it makes adrenaline surge through your body.
it makes me wonder - who invented roller coasters? what would make someone think to design and build something like that? it's not like it mirrors anything in existence. trains go in straight lines on tracks. cars race along roads. Aeroplanes soar through the sky. i guess roller coasters combine a bit of all of that. still, wonder if people were demanding thrills and spills all those years ago and some clever clogs set to work on a wooden frame and built a wooden car to ride over it. wonder if the first person to ride it got paid danger money?
i have always been a "what if" person. i find it quite balancing to think about what could have been. It makes me look at "what is" and rationalise that it is in fact better than what ever could have been. In the case of roller coasters, i always think - what if it broke down right about NOW. just as it gets to the top. or what if the car falls off? would i survive? would i climb down a million steps on a teeny ladder? thankfully i am able to rationalise my thoughts by watching all the people in front of me getting on and off, screaming, smiling; surviving.
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