Riding The Rails

The family van broke down yesterday, and was sent off to the mechanic for resurrection. Just so you know, in terms of automobiles, money makes all things possible.

Which meant that I took the bus today. All day. Yeap. A nightmare come true.

I needed to go to a seminar this morning on Motivational Interviewing in the health field. It's all about empowering your client and helping them find the answers to their problems. It was amazing.

What took 1 hour travel time to get to took nearly 3 hours to get away from. I thought I would go out of my mind. When the subway stop came into view, I nearly flew out the window jumping out of my seat in anticipation of getting off the bus. I had been standing/sitting on that elongated metal box for over 1 hour.

The subway was another matter entirely. The rules have changed: there are no restrictions for bicycles on subways anymore. We just have to put them on certain cars that have less seats and more room.

A fellow traveler got on at my stop, and literally talked, non-stop, for the next 35 minutes about bikes, his bike, my bike, everyone else's bike, the bike he was gonna put together. I loved it. Talk about entertaining. He took my mind off the police activity 5 stops up, which delayed our travel time by 15 minutes.

Which is a funny story by itself. When the conductor explained that police activity was going to keep us sitting still for 4 to 5 minutes, most of us heard 45 minutes and passengers scampered off the train like cockroaches after the light's turned on. It took a passenger's emergency call to the conductor to get that straightened out and we called our fellow passengers back.

If one needs to travel in public, it's best that public is happy, kind, and a little nutty. Makes the time out go that much quicker.