The Train Ride from Hell

 Waking up early really sucks.

It’s a miracle I’m even coherant.

but I can’t make any promises.

so yesterday really really tried to be a good day. I mean, free shoes for my kids and my w-2 coming in seemed to be signals that I was going to have a good week.

that is… until I got on the train.

first of all, it was about 10 minutes late. that should have been a warning sign. but even being 10 minutes late I’d still get to my car with plenty of time to get my kids on time. I must get them by 6. I don’t even know what’ll happen if I don’t get there in time!

Anyway, when it arrived it was pretty damn full, but whatever. I squished into a semi comfy spot (standing with my arm wrapped around a pole thingy) and proceeded to play some card games on my phone (I found hearts! I heart hearts!)….

We got over HALF WAY HOME when we stopped at a station and the train promptly proceeded to completely shut down, including lights.

Everyone just sorta stood there like "ummm… now what"… but like the good little robots that we are, we stood patiently waiting for the lights to come back on and for the train to proceed.

Well, when about 15 minutes pass by and NOTHING  happens, it makes people wonder.

You think, logically, someone is going to come tell us what is going on. Even if they can’t use the PA system, they can at least communicate with some of the other staff at the station and let the passengers know what’s happening.

NOPE!

At one point people started leaving and as soon as they did, the train powered up and the doors slammed shut, people pushed and screamed to be let in… and they were. They were rewarded with the lights shutting off AGAIN and us not going ANYWHERE…

At around 30 minutes of standing around, everyone really started getting upset. I heard someone speaking loudly at the other end of the car I was in, but I couldn’t understand what they said. However, a mass exodus out of the car started happening and I was a good little lemming and I followed them all. No use sitting in a dark train car for no reason. I was sure if it started up again, we’d all be able to get in.

Well… another 10 minutes and I started freaking out. I had about 40 minutes to get to my children and if I didn’t get to my car in about 10 I wasn’t going to make it. Traffic was sure to be hellish and it would take at LEAST half an hour to get from teh station to the school.

I had NO PHONE SIGNAL because we were underground, so I figured that I would just go upstairs to make a quick call and come back.

I heard a very faint, almost WHISPERED announcement from the PA, but of course I couldn’t understand ANY OF IT. Yeah, that helps, fucking metro assfaces. GRRR! I watched as the train we had just got off of started to turn on and off and shudder and shake. Yeah, something was definitely wrong with that piece of shit.

I had enough, I needed to make a call! As soon as I started walking towards the stairs my instincts told me to wait. It would be my luck to get all the way up there and the damn train would come and I wouldn’t be on it!

So I went back down and sure enough, 5 minutes later, a train pulled up on the opposite track.

You’d think it would be empty. Like they’d send a special trian just for us.

Uhhh.. no.

No, this train was about as full as OUR train was. so guess what that means?

YEP!

Somehow, we squeezed TWO FULL TO OVERFLOWING TRAINLOADS INTO ONE TRAIN!!!!

I kid you not, I was pushed into the center of the standing area with my face practically SMASHED INTO THE STINKY SWEATY ARMPIT OF A GIANT FAT MAN.

yep.

I wanted to cry. but I couldn’t even move. It was the worst moment of my life. All I could do was clutch my purse to my chest and hope that we didn’t stop suddenly and have my face crammed into the sweaty abyss.

I was relieved when at the next stop some people exited so I could shift to another spot, but we promptly refilled up to sardine hell and my face was pressed against a window that had god knows what on it as we got to the next stop and I was able to shift again. A little more room opened up, but at the second ot last stop a giant SMOOSH of people got in and I knew it was going to only get worse when we needed to exit that damn train.

The train was creaking and groaning and sounded like it was going to die. We were moving slower than normal because of the increased weight and it was just torturous!

At this point, I knew there was no way I was gonna make it in time to get my kids. Of course it was a day that baboo had left home to go look at a new job opportunity, so he wasn’t home to get them. I wasn’t sure if he was even on his way home yet!!!! My little brother was my only hope, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to call him until I got above ground and I really started to panic.

So we finally made it to the damn train station and I kid you not, the entire platform was FULL  of people waiting to get on the train.

the logical thing to do? Move out of the way so that the overflowing train can EMPTY so you can get on the damn thing, right?

NOPE, THOSE MOTHER FUCKERS STARTED PRESSING INTO THE DOORWAY AS WE WERE TRYING TO EXIT, MAKING IT VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO MAKE ANY PROGRESS.

I started seeing red. What is WRONG WITH PEOPLE?!

It started to get messy.

One man started screaming "GET BACK! GET BACK!"

and I saw some people starting ot move forward further up, but it did not translate to where I was being crushed because the idiots waiting to get on the train simply filled up any open space that appeared.

It made no goddamned sense!

and then the fight broke out.

Some giant man with a suitcase (who cut me off a few times as I tried to squeeze my way around and move out of that madness) swung his way into someone who didn’t like it very much.

So they started pushing and screaming.

Then a lady started to scream that if they just MOVED OUT OF OUR WAY WE COULD MOVE OUT OF THEIRS!!!

but logic and reason do not apply in situations like that.

Eventually, after a good 10 minutes of just standing still in a mass of idiocy I finally broke though. I ran to the far end of the terminal to the stair case there, and while there was a line, it was a lot shorter than the one that had been closer to me.

I finally get up to where I can get a signal and I frantically called my brother to have him start heading to the school. then I called baboo and asked him if he was even remotely close to home and he said he wasn’t. So I was going to have to HOPE that they’d let my brother stay there with the boys or something.

So I break into a flat SPRINT when I got off the escalator… and proceeded to calmost kill myself.

If you are not used to cardio, forcing yourself into a flat run is NOT A GOOD IDEA.

I need to tone up, no way I can run from zombies or psycho killers if I can’t get a good run sustained!

Anyway, I got to my car and almost died. I was seeing spots in front of my eyes, heaving and huffing and puffing and it was terrible.

I started to drive and I got a text from Baboo that he would be able to get to the school in time to pick up the boys and instantly my stress dropped about 50%.

I told my brother to look out for him and proceeded to drive.

It took me over 30 minutes and there was no way I would have made it in time.

but Baboo saved the day! He was able to get to them and pick them up in time and when I got home he was waiting for me with a hug and he listened to me rant and he was basically amazing and supportive and awesome… and then he took us out to dinner at Black Angus and we had delicious food and the night ended on a much better note.

I needed that. I was so tensed out I thought my head was going to explode.

PLEASE LET THE REST OF THIS WEEK GO SMOOTHLY.

I hate having to take that damn train. If I could afford it, I would drive every damn day.