Sleeper Raft

Daydreaming is constructive because it takes you out of the situation your in at present when you need to be. It's not just there to make help you be creative. 

I was thinking about an alternate reality where sleeper rafts exist. They are rafts with small cabins on top of them, they are sent through very long aqua ducts that stay level and go between cities. Water is pumped in one end and flows out the other end. 

The cabin on the raft would have a small porch at the back and a folding bench. There would be all the trimmings of a typical hotel room, a small shower bathroom, a bed and even a couch by a table with a tea set that uses a flask instead of a kettle. 

At the front of the raft would be an insulated water tank with hot water for the small shower. Another tank would be there for sewage. There would also be a battery for powering all the lights. 

The point is you would sleep in the cabin and wake up in a different city. The raft would move at walking speed but it would be a smooth ride and you would sleep through the journey. 

The aquaduct is a tube with water flowing through it, the raft floats in the water. I imagine it would feel a bit claustrophobic when you sit in the porch and see that you're in a large tube.  

Golders Green Attack

A few days ago, I learnt that a guy was running through 'Golders Green' looking for people that were outwardly Jewish and stabbing them. The police caught up with him and fired a taser at him and then they kicked his head several times because he wouldn't let go of the knife. To me that made sense because he may have had a bomb detonator strapped to his torso, they had a sense of urgency because they needed to make sure there was no bomb. If you're brazenly stabbing people like that in daylight hours then it probably means you're ready to die as well so they should assume he has a bomb strapped to his body to cause more casualties. I think the police did the right thing, I would have just shot him in the head with a bullet as soon as he brandished the knife at me. It's probably a good thing I'm not a police man.

At the time this happened, I was daydreaming about an alternate reality where you can ride on an overnight sleeper raft. The raft has a small cabin with a bed to sleep inside and moves through a 2.5 meter wide tube with water flowing through it. The raft moves through the water very slowly but it doesn't matter because you spend the whole night sleeping inside the cabin on the raft. You could also watch TV and sit on the couch inside the raft.  

There would be tea set inside the cabin but the hot water would come from a flask instead of a kettle. There would be a cabin battery that powers the TV lights and usb sockets in the cabin. There would also be a flask tank to supply a small shower with water.  

The aquaduct would be a delivery system for moving goods around the country where water is pumped in through one side of the duct and exits the other end carrying rafts full of goods during the day and rafts with small cabins on them during the night. You would get in the cabin, sleep during the night in the cabin on the raft and wake up in a different city after a having the smoothest trip ever. The aquaduct would also be a flood defense system taking water away from rivers that have too much water in them. 

Sleeper Wonders

I recently learned there are two sleeper train services here in Britain; to me this is amazing because the island of Great Britain is less than 250,000 square kilometres in area. Britain is a small island, you can drive across the longest part of the Island in less than 6 hours. The idea is you get a small room on a train and sleep on the train overnight while you travel to your destination, I think the train deliberately goes slowly so you can sleep better. You would do this as a tourist experience or if you needed to be up and about when you arrive there and only wanted to stay one day. If you booked early then you would condense your travel and hotel stay into one and save money, perhaps you were an elite journalist or something like that. 

Scottish Rail owns the Caledonian sleeper train service and Great Western Railways owns the Riviera Sleeper (London in the East to Cornwall in the West). The Caledonian Sleeper goes from Euston Terminal Station in London and Riviera Sleeper Goes From Paddington Station. 

Sleeper trains are fascinating because they're small boxes on trains that are fitted out as hotel rooms. They use lots of clever designs and features to use the limited space effectively. Both the Companies found different ways to solve the space problems. The riviera service has a cover that turns the small sink basin into a table and has a folding bunk bed that comes out of the wall. The Caledonian one has similar features but I think they managed to add a small on suite bathroom toilet bit into the space of a cupboard. 

Let me show you two videos so you can see for yourself. 

Caledonian Sleeper video

Reviera Sleeper Video

It makes me think about my own hospitality. If guests come over to visit me, would they enjoy their stay? Perhaps I should have my mind set on getting fluffy cushy couches with leg rests. Guests could visit and they would have a relaxing experience. I could bring them baked pasties and coffee with sugar free syrup barista style regularly. 

I imagined running a sleeper train service. Perhaps they could board the train long before it leaves the station. The train could use a lay-by platform in a less busy station instead of a grand terminal one in the city centre. It could stay there for 5 hours at a time. I wonder if they have sleeper coaches.