In many jobs, the scenery outside the window, or out an open door, remains the same from day to day. Sometimes it stays constant from season to season.
Having worked in many windowless laboratories during my career, I was grateful to the people who added scenic posters or personal touches to the common spaces.
On the other end of the scale, are jobs where the view is constantly changing. Route drivers come to mind — traffic is never exactly the same twice. Another would be barge workers. The seasonal, and more frequent, changes along the banks of great American rivers is always in flux. Too much rain swelling the river? Drought affecting crops? Repairs or construction to a bridge? Will we go under a bridge as a train crosses?
This photo from the Missouri shore outside Hannibal, shows northbound freight. I wonder what new things the crew spotted that day.
The river in fictional Elm Ridge, Illinois brought all manner of freight, passengers, and mail in the mid-19th-century. Check out the sweet romance, New Dreams, for the story of immigrants adapting to their new land.
