It's certainly amazing how time moves on without a person knowing. If one were to imagine life, or the experience of passing through time, as a system of on-going trains moving throughout various platforms in a train station, the phenomenon of such obliviousness would probably be akin to staying on the platform and watching the train depart without you on board.
Life is... as simple as that. If you get on, you move. If you don't do anything, life moves on without you, whether you like it or not.
I remember the first day I arrived in London at 4am in the morning. Without a single idea of where I was going, the amiacably friendly lady at the counter sold me a Healthrow Express ticket to King's Cross. When I stepped out of the train. I had no idea where I was, nor where I had to go next.
Different trains go different places. Some might have a destination in mind when they get on, but the train of life at times bring you to places you never expected to go.
Some people go different destinations, and thus they leave from different platforms. Some people can see certain platforms, and some people can't, thus some people manage to go different places while some just stay on the same station all their lives, shuffling through platforms without moving on. Akin to Harry Potter and his Platform of 9 and 3/4, some people see opportunities and grab them, while some see and don't go, while others miss them entirely.
At times, while waiting for someone alongside a busy tube exit, I like to play a guessing game: I'd wildly guess who these guys are and where are these guys are going. One might be a businessman heading home for a nice dinner, another might be a stationary clark going for a pint with his mates. Another might as well be a prostitute. Well, to tell the truth, most of the time, I haven't got a clue. They look all the same to me, just as I am, to them.
Some people get forcefully squeezed onto trains by on-rushing crowds, while some get gently nudged on by other individuals. Just like how as a student, you followed your peers moving through the education system, or when your parents forced you onto this particular high school. At least, eventually, you're going somewhere. What happens when you're just standing on an empty platform?
Oh well, life is a mysterious thing.
edit: harry potter station number. credits to andrew.
