Deep Breath!

This morning on my way to work, I pile on to a packed train at North Station. We go one stop to Haymarket and one person gets off. Only one! There are four people waiting to get on. One gets on, two scramble to find another door they can get in and another just panics and runs from door to door but can’t get on anywhere. There is an MBTA officer standing at our door. I assumed he’d tell the guy to wait for the next train but instead he tells an already sardine packed train to “Take a deep breath!” Of course I do it. I don’t hear anyone else doing it. Everyone else is staring at the MBTA office like he is crazy. I take my deep breath in and I feel the MBTA officer push us in to the middle and this guy has Juuuust enough room to get on the T! It’s a good thing I only had one stop to go since I was stuck in my “deep breath” position. Lesson learned, no matter how “autopilot” I may be on, don’t take a deep breath so more people can get on the train. If they can’t fit while I’m standing as my normal self, they just aren’t fittin’!

Tire Tread- Manditory in New England!

So, screw talking about the train for today. Let’s talk about maintaining your vehicle! When you live in New England and it’s…THE WINTER… you need tires with TREAD on them! Just sayin’!

This morning, I was on my way to the train when an old sh*t box pulled out in front of me and proceeded to the train station going 20 miles per hour. Every time this person saw slush or rounded a corner, we slowed down to 10 or 15 miles per hour. This isn’t a matter of lacking four wheel drive, this was a matter of maintaining your vehicle, which they clearly didn’t do!

I finally get to the train station and as I am pulling in to the parking lot, I see the scroll reading “Train to Boston Approaching!” I park in the first spot I see (and fit in…that’s key after a snow storm and you have a vehicle that’s…let’s say not compact)! I grab my stuff, look at my parking spot number and run to the payment box. I fold my dollar bills into eighths while I am running. We call this multi tasking! I get to the machine and there is some woman in front of me with a bad perm blocking the whole box. I look at her and while she is blocking the entire box, she is folding her dollar bills while humming! YES! Humming. B*tch! The train is behind us get your money in the box! Had you multitasked and folded your money while walking there, we’d all have a shot at making the train. Although from the looks of things, this lady probably couldn’t walk and chew gum at the same time.

Irritated by her folding and peaceful humming, I say “EXCUSE ME!” and get my arm in front of her and shove my neatly folded bills into my slot. I am in and out of there and this woman is still humming and folding while others pile up behind her. I am not the only one irritated with her as I hear another one cut in front of her too.

We all make the train! Thankfully! As I take my seat, I realize I don’t have my coffee! It’s in my truck. I am now feeling my caffeine headache come on. I have a routine, I sip my coffee the second I am on the train. I am clearly addicted to caffeine and if I don’t get it at that exact time, I am screwed. We get to North Station, I hop on the T and go directly to the Startbucks in my lobby. The line is long so I go to my office, unload all my things and run back down to the lobby. Success! I order a Vanilla Latte and that first sip is heaven! Now, I am ready to start my day!

Winter Snow Storm Fun!

This morning, the roads were slick. I was stuck behind an SUV that was all over the road going 15 MPH. I guess not all SUV’s are created equally because the only reason why I was sliding all over was from slamming on my brakes to back off from this guy who clearly didn’t know how to use his 4WD. Had I been able to go a steady speed, I wouldn’t have had any trouble.

Anyway, after being stuck behind this guy, I wasn’t sure if I’d make the train on time. I got to the train station and the parking lot hadn’t even been plowed! I parked in what I thought was my usual spot and tried to clear off the snow behind my truck so that I could see if I had indeed parked in my usual spot. When I pushed away the snow, all I saw was pavement. The numbers were somewhere under there but I knew I didn’t have time to investigate further. I took a guess at my number and paid the honor box. I hope I am correct because I would be irritated if I came back to find a ticket on my vehicle! I wish I had a post it with me so that I could have stuck it to the money with the make and color of my vehicle but, I was in a hurry of course and while I was at the box, I saw the Boston train approaching. I wasn’t going to push my luck but when I got to the cross walk to get over the tracks, the train was plenty far out for me to cross! Success! I made the train on time in this nasty storm. The train was empty and I had an entire seat to myself the whole way in! It was great! Now, let’s just hope I don’t get a ticket!!

We Saw a Mouse!

Oh you know, it's just a normal day. I'm talking with my friend after we get through the gates at the T. We round the corner and are walking down the stairs when all of a sudden we get to the bottom and there is a dead mouse who has fallen victim to foot traffic road kill! He is smack dab in the middle of the stairwell at the bottom sprawled out for everyone to see. I threw my hand out "WATCH OUT!" I scream to my friend. She just screams and then I scream. We do the "Oh-My-God-It's-A-Mouse-Dance". Ya know, the one every woman does when she comes across one of these furry little beasts. Our arms flailing about and our legs going up and down like we are training for football doing the tire running strength exercise,  even though we know he is already dead.

Luckily we saw him and if we didn't, we had rain boots on so it wouldn't have been a huge deal if we didn't.  We could just jump in a puddle and wash off his poor little guts. However, other girls wear ballerina flats during their commute and it's not so easy to avoid mouse guts on your feet and rinsing off is just not an option. Transit police, surprise surprise, were no where in sight so we couldn't even let them know so that they could put a cone over him so people know to go around while they figure out how to remove the little critter.

Needless to say, seeing this mousy mouse, didn't sit well with me! It means there are other mice traveling in the station too. I mean, I was aware that they do live there along with god forbid, rats!! However, seeing him in plain sight was obviously not the highlight of my commuting experience.

Rough Morning…But Not As Bad As Others

This morning was so aggravating. I went to the train station to catch the train. I was running a couple minutes behind so I didn’t have time to park in my normal spot. I had to go park on the side the train doors opened on. I pull in to the parking lot and there are no spaces at all to park in. Because of the way the parking lot is plowed, the only available spaces were for compact cars…aka, your car needs to fit nicely in to the space with its own allotted snow bank. My vehicle, being the beast that it is, did not even come close to fitting. I’d like to point out that had there been a space on this side, I would have SO made the train!

I see people making up parking spots. However, when you do that, you don’t have a number to properly pay the meter by the platform. I have seen people get tickets when they park like that so I opted not to. I drove around to the other side. I get a spot on the far end of the lot and I am psyched. I grab my things and look in my rear view to see the train pulling in to the station. DAMN IT! I missed it. There is no way for me to cross over and get to the boarding side.

I throw my things on the seat and grab my phone to see when the next train is coming and to make sure that one isn’t having mechanical difficulties since I had already gotten a few emails today that said that various Lowell trains were canceled due to mechanical problems. Luckily the next one is on time but I decide to take my time in the car since it’s not coming for a half an hour. A few other people were in the same position as me as I saw them park and wait in their cars.

I hear a knocking on my window as I am waiting. I open my door. “Can I use your phone? I locked my purse in my car. It has my keys, train ticket and work badge in it. My husband is only five minutes away so he can just come down with the keys.” I let her use my phone. She leaves him a voice mail to meet her inside at the train station. She heads up to the station and I stay in my car. After a while, I start to head up to go sit in the station and wait for the train. I see her still sitting there worried. I head over. “Do you want to try one more time before the train comes?” I say as I hand her my phone. “Oh my god! Thank you! I don’t know where he could be.” She calls again and then tries to call her home phone too. No one picks up. She can’t even board the train because her train pass is in the car and so is her work badge. This is the second train today she has missed. I wish her luck as I head out to board the train.

As I’m heading out side I see a shiny new sign that says “Failure to pay for parking will result in vehicle being towed at owner’s expense.” I am glad I didn’t “invent a spot” like some others did and run for the train. I’d much rather miss my train than come home to having my car gone.

So, all that being said…my theory is that no matter how bad I think I have it, clearly someone else has it worse than me between missing multiple trains instead of just one and locked purses in cars and now, new posters claiming they can tow a vehicle instead of just ticket, I’d say my morning wasn’t all that bad after all.

Whiny Kids Shouldn’t Ride the Train

Oh school vacation week. How I wish you’d hurry up and be over (and let’s just point out that I don’t even have kids)!

This morning on the commuter rail, the train was one car short so we were packed in. By the time we got to the second to last stop, people were standing in the aisles. A mom and her two kids got on and were standing in the aisle. There ended up being a seat for the little girl and the little boy starts whining that he “doesn’t wanna stannnnnnnnnnd”. A nice guy got up and offered his seat. The mom thanks the guy and tells the boy to sit down. The boy looks at the seat and realizes he’s got to sit next to a stranger. “I don’t wanna sit nowwwwwwwww” he says.

Dear God, I haven’t yet finished my coffee and THIS is how we start my day? Excellent!

The mom replies “This nice guy just gave you his seat.” The little boy has a solution “You sit and I’ll sit on your lap.” He says.

The mom sits down and the boy continues to stand in the aisle and whine. The mom gently tells him to stop it and that’s when he loses it. He throws himself on the ground and starts kicking a screaming. The poor mom is horrified. She starts whispering in that mom tone you know not to f*ck with “You need to cut it out now.” “Stop it you hear?” the kid continues flailing about on the dirty dirty floor. The mom finally dives in and it looks like she is trying to tame a wild pig and hog tie it as we are pulling in to North Station.

Mean while, everyone wants to look but their eyes are up at the ceiling or glued to a window. The second we start disembarking, the boy seems to be fine and over his issue. He get’s off the train and is skipping along the platform to keep up with his mom because she is high tailing it as fast as she can to get out of dodge where everyone is now looking at her.

I get off the train and chug my coffee as I head toward the T. I may need a second cup after this morning. Have a great day everyone!

No Heat!

This morning when the train came, it blew past us in its attempt to stop on the snowy tracks. I usually hop into the first car but today, I was lined up with the second car. I climb in and took a seat. It is strangely empty. I take off my gloves and my fingers were freezing. The conductor informs us that this car is the only car on the train that doesn't have heat this morning. GREAT! That's why there is no one in this car. He said if we wanted to, we could move to another car and so, I did!

While the train was moving, I got up and proceeded down the aisle. There was a guy in front of me so I figured now was the time to go since I hate opening and closing those heavy doors in between cars! I was about three feet behind this guy. He opens the door for himself and walks through and lets go of the door slamming it shut. I pull on the door and it doesn't budge. I put my full body weight into it and get it open just enough to slip through. This guy is still in the breezeway and I am right behind him. He looks at me, walks through the door and let's go again. I am now in between train cars. This scares me but since there are doors to the outside, I don't have any chance of falling out of the train, I just hate the feeling of being "stuck" out there. I approach the second door and lean into it with all my weight to pull it open. Success! I am in the train car with heat! Now, to find a place to sit since everyone is in there.

I find a three seater with a woman and a newspaper. She has her paper spread out all over the seat. I sit down on the corner of the seat where the newspaper isn't reaching. She glares at me and takes all of the newspaper, folds it up and hastily puts it away. Sorry lady. It doesn't take three seats to read a paper. PS Who reads the paper anymore? I didn't care! I was warm and toasty and as the train moved its way toward North Station, I had to slide in to the middle seat to accommodate another passenger. She huffed and puffed the rest of the way to North Station after I scooted in. Sorry lady, you're not the only one who needs to take public transit. Get over yourself.