Monday, April 17, 2006

for my fellow city-dwellers.

in terms of public transit, is there anything more annoying that standing at the El (or bus) stop and watching more than three trains (or buses!) go by in the opposite direction? usually by number three, i'm getting annoyed.

today, though, i literally lost count. some kind of wacked-out shit happened on the northside tracks for the brown and purple lines, because i waited 35 minutes for a train at rush hour, and i easily saw ten trains pull through in the other direction. it would've been comical, except my El stop is right on the river and i was freezing my ass off in my little spring coat (note to self: a 57 degree high probably means it will no longer by 57 degrees when you leave work). and of course, the whole working world was waiting for these trains to make their way through the loop, so once the trains finally made it back to my stop, i had to let four of them pass me because they were packed to the gills.

holy mother, sometimes i hate being fiscally responsible and energy conscious. when i'm old and rich, i'll be all like, "taxi!"

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

some advice, as your male parental unit (and former trainman). always maintain a high degree of mistrust for train dispatchers on the brown & purple lines on the Northside and of coure the red, green & orange lines when you're home. they're a devious bunch who reagale in sending trains "to the house" for diabolical reasons known only to their subconscious minds. so the next time any multiple of three train loads of windows goes by you, by all means,
start bellowing - "Taxi"
let me know how much the fare was and I'll cover it. can't allow my golden year's meal ticket to get sick over something as frivolous as
ecology!

Anonymous said...

ha! Dadcat made me snort! and laugh out loud! at work! I love Dadcat! Sir, you have my utmost respect.

And the situation you describe is one of the many reasons I love commuting against the grain. Trains still lag and I have to wait, but rarely does a train go in my direction that is so packed I can't get on it. And then it's only full of suburban Cubs fans who mostly don't realize that you can stand in the aisle between the seats which means I get that area all to myself.