Transit Strike, First Night

Since I leave fairly early from the office, I figured that it wouldn't be a huge deal to catch a train. I was wrong. We had to line up at the concourse level (above the platform) and wait. I ended up talking to two very nice ladies. There wasn't much else to do. It was only after spending 30 minutes in line did I realize that I couldn't find my lunch bag. The last thing I needed to do was create a homeland security incident over a blue insolated bag. Anyway, it turns out that I left it on my desk. I called my coworker frantic and he left me a voicemail a little later that he was looking at it.

So I missed my usual train but managed to get on the next one. We were surprised that they didn't pack it in as much as they could have. I'm guessing it was for safety. The last thing they needed was cranky people packed like sardines.

While I was trying to get on the train, I had to walk down a narrow path between the wall and the train. Wouldn't you know that some guy pushed passed me (going in the opposite direction)? I had to just about hang onto the train to keep from slipping. Good thing that part of the train wasn't electrified.

Anyway, once we passed outside of the city we came to a quick stop – where they blow the air breaks. Great! Apparently we had a mechanical problem. And after trying to restart the train, it became apparent it had to be fixed on the spot. The good news was that the conductor was able to do so – once the tracks were cleared. They must get special mechanic training or something.

So in the end, I arrived home at my old usual time and even caught my old usual train with my usual conductor. My friend had to wait for about an hour last night just to get on a train, so I can't complain too much. Apparently my other train is having contract issues and after begging the conductor to strike, he said they couldn’t. The federal government would step in. Thank goodness.

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