Friday on the Rails

So Friday, I got back on the rails again when I had to go to DC for a social function. The previous Friday, I had driven from NW Baltimore County to Greenbelt to catch the Metro into the city for the Capitals game, and the drive was a nightmare, so I when I realized that I had left early enough to catch the 5:03 train from BWI, I went ahead and did that.

I got there with a few minutes to spare and looked at the board to find that the 5:03 MARC train was on time. Sweet. By the time I had purchased my ticket and gotten to the right side of the platform to catch the train (about 5:02), the boards said the train was 5 minutes late. At 5:07, the announcer said the train would arrive at about 5:12. Finally at about 5:20, the train departed. No reason was given. But the frustrating thing was the idiocy of some of the people on the platforms. Usually, people stand on the platform in a horizontal line, 1 deep throughout, finding their own personal space, etc.

Well while I was waiting, a dude and his wife decided to stand literally right in front of them (I could have sneezed on them and they would have gotten a shower). When I tried to move and said "excuse me," I discovered that not only were they standing right in my path, but dude had put his big ass, oversized, there must be the body of a dead mafia guy in there bag down to my right. I took great pleasure in accidentally kicking it out of the way as I made my escape from their little trap. I think he said something about it, but I was too busy trying to find another place to stand.

The train ride there was somewhat uneventful. But when we got to Union Station and I was walking toward the station, there was a crowd of people probably 400 strong waiting to board a train. By rule, these folks are supposed to wait in the station. But instead they had all herded out to the platform area like morons and had no plans to move, even though they were blocking all the doors. This is where elbows and forearms come in handy. I made my way through, acting as the lead fullback for this old lady that was behind me with rolling luggage and needed some space to get through. Then, once through the door, there were still more people charging through the herd who apparently don't understand that when trains come into Union Station, sometimes, people exit them. One person stopped right in the middle of everyone and sighed as if our desire to, you know, get through the station minding our own business, was some kind of an afront. I wasn't in the best of moods at that point so I spoke my mind to him as I walked past. I heard one person clapping.

On the way home, I missed a train so I had to sit in the station for about an hour to get the 10:05 back north. While sitting in Sbarro eating some pizza, two dudes almost got into a fight because the one older gentlemen was paying for his food, and the other dude thought he cut in line in front of a woman who was still waiting for her food and hadn't even been ready to go to the register yet. While this dude felt like it was his business, I have no idea, but he was a real asshole about it. Maybe he was trying to hook up with the woman, who wasn't really wronged in the situation, but he felt he could play hero. The older gentlemen told him off in something that I think was Chinese and went about on his merry way. The woman ignored the dude, who was trying to be all impressive and talking to her, and then he went on about the rest of the station trying to cause trouble somewhere else.

People are punks. Be careful out there.

MDR