I thought I would never get home. I sat on the bench on the platform at the State Center subway stop. The train arrived. I boarded and took a seat. An earlier passenger had left a paranormal romance on the seat. I ignored it. The doors chimed then closed. The doors reopened with a crash.Continue reading “On Traveling Travails”
Tag Archives: Subway
On Long and Fruitless Commutes
Yesterday I felt like Odysseus. In Homer’s The Odyssey, the Greek hero Odysseus attempts to return home to Greece after the conclusion of the Trojan War. But his journey home is fraught with adventures and detours, and it takes him a decade to reach his home. Yesterday’s commute was like that. A southbound train brokeContinue reading “On Long and Fruitless Commutes”
On Awkward Subway Encounters
She sat hunched over on the subway car’s bench. It wasn’t the coat she wore that I noticed first — brown, long, heavy, wintry, a fur-lined hood, wholly inappropriate to the day’s weather. Rather, it was the savage odor that permeated the subway car — sweat and grime and soiled clothes. The smells mixed togetherContinue reading “On Awkward Subway Encounters”
On Curiosity About Parking Garages
I decided this morning to park the Beetle on the sixth level of the parking garage at the subway station. I had parked on the fourth level. Recently I changed to the fifth — I could park closer to the stairwell on the fifth, thus cutting down on walking time, even though it was anotherContinue reading “On Curiosity About Parking Garages”
On Maryland Transit Suckitude
The four feet of snow that fell during Blizzardammerung and its kissing cousin Blizzardammerung II linger on the Maryland landscape like a festering malignancy. I look out at the frozen wastes from my sixth floor office, and I think I should elk and moose wandering the glacier that now lays across the hills and dalesContinue reading “On Maryland Transit Suckitude”
On Late December Walks
Last night, I took a walk on the way home. When the light rail train pulled into the North Avenue station, the conductor announced that the train would be stopped there for several minutes, as there was a disabled train ahead of it. From time to time, I’ll walk from the North Avenue station, pastContinue reading “On Late December Walks”
On the Trouble with Coupons
Yesterday, the writers went to Subway for lunch. About a month ago, during their Scrabble promotion, I won a coupon for a free “Flatbread or Regular 6″ Sub.” Note the order of the words. We will come back to this. I ordered a Subway Melt Flatbread. It had bacon on it, and I’m not aContinue reading “On the Trouble with Coupons”
On a Graveyard of Boxes
Along the subway line, there is a graveyard of newspaper boxes. The train rolls along, through a wooded stretch of track, and then, suddenly, on the south side of the track there is a fenced off area with woods all around. There, in the middle of the enclosed space, stands perhaps twenty newspaper boxes. TheyContinue reading “On a Graveyard of Boxes”
On Missing Connections
The morning’s commute was an exercise in missed connections. The subway train pulled out just as I reached the platform. Making the connection from the subway to the light rail can be the matter of moments. Up one escalator, up another escalator, across the street, down a block and a half, across a four-lane highway,Continue reading “On Missing Connections”
On Getting Home From Work
Most days, getting to and from work is not a problem. Oh, I might miss the connection from subway to light rail by the merest of seconds (like yesterday, where I was five seconds late to get aboard the train), but for the most part, things go smoothly. Except when they don’t. This evening wasContinue reading “On Getting Home From Work”