...my friend Piera's trip home on Friday night made Odysseus' little sojourn back from the Trojan War look like a walk to the grocery store to get a gallon of milk. Witness:
"We witnessed the downpour that took place at 4 p.m. The skies darkened and an eerie silence fell over the city right before the water came crashing down.
So we leave at 5. Instinctively, I knew that the V, E, R, and N were not working. I knew it. However, we walked to the 53rd/Lexington Avenue station. No V or E service. The MTA suggested for all us Queens people to take the 6 train to Times Square and take the 7 train. So I walk with my co-worker to the 6 since she has to take the 6 two stops to get home. IT WAS RIDICULOUS! I'm already a bit claustrophobic and that platform was ridiculous. My co-worker decides that she can walk the 20 blocks home. So we leave and by that time, the rain has subsided and the weather was now a misty rain. We walk and I realize that the Q101 bus is nearby. Salvation! I temporarily erase all memories of me taking that horrible, horrible bus from high school. It never came then. I always had to walk 30 blocks home, everyday, in high school for 4 years. (But damn, did I have some great legs!)
The line wasn't so bad. I was the 10th person in. NO BUS! Three Q101s pass by with a "Not in Service" sign. After waiting for about an hour (now it's 6:30 p.m.), I decide to grab McDonald's and head back to the office (5 blocks away) to wait out the rush. So I head back, go upstairs, eat my Quarter Pounder, and pay some bills online.
At about 7:30, I decide that the best course of action would be for me to walk to Times Square (20 blocks away - about a 15-20 minute walk) and take the 7 train to Woodside and have my father pick me up from there. If the 7 train is not working, then I can just hang out at one of the hotels and hail a cab from there. The 7 train wasn't running (lying MTA bastards!), so I head off to one of the hotels. Seems like everyone else had that idea because there were CROWDS at each and every hotel in Times Square.
So, off I go. I walk over to 58th and 8th and stop in front of a hotel there. Three cabbies come by (after trying to hail one for an hour) and no one wanted to go into Queens. One guy said, "I do not like Queens." I told him, "I do not like you!" I walk over to 9th Avenue and stop in front of a small hotel there. I see a man getting out of a cab and the hotel attendant assisting him. Of course, I am on that in two seconds. I hesitantly ask, "Queens please?" and he tells me to hop in. HOP IN! The two most magical words in the world for me.
So now, it's about 9 p.m. To get to the 59th Street Bridge lower level via 3rd Avenue is HELL. So he asks if I'm okay if he takes an alternate route. Of course - as long as I'm out of the city, I'm fine. So he calls his other cabbie friend to make sure another route is available. His friend is telling my cabbie that he's crazy to drive into Queens. My cabbie, my hero, tells his friend that I need to get home. Awww... God bless that man.
So by the time he pulls up in front of my house, it's 10:15 p.m. I tip the man well - he deserves it! I thank him a million and one times and get out.
So that was may tale. I hope you enjoyed it."
Piera, you have no idea...
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my less harrowing story...
I left the office thinking I'd wander around a little, it was only drizzling, and I wasn't sure what time I'd be meeting Adam downtown yet. So, I get in line to take a downtown 5th Ave buss. But then my phone rings, and I decide to start walking because Adam is telling me that his train isn't working, and that the busses are all full.
Okay, so this is a problem, we start bickering about guesstimating what time he'd be downtown. We decide on an hour, he was heading toward another bus.
So I wander over to Times Square, not thinking that the trains wouldn't be running. I go into the station and it's too loud to even hear the announcements at all. I walked over to the N/R area, and saw the platform was swarmed, didn't even walk down the stairs and headed over toward the 1/9. People were huddled over in this one corner where cell phones were getting reception. It was the weirdest thing.
From the look of things, I opted to just leave. I went over to Broadway, and started walking south, thinking I'd either catch a bus, or get to the 34th street station, and figure out the situation there.
No bus came. The first station I tried to go in was locked. Finally got into the 34th station, and found out that the N/R was not running and Q was running on the local line below 42nd. Good thing I walked south.
So I get to Canal street, and go abobut a block south of it. And find myself waiting for 40 minutes under an awning on a dark street in the rain. By the time Adam got there, I could barely stand, because rainstorms and my sciatica are not good friends.
On the way home after the show, it was pouring, and we waited almost half an hour to get a cab rather than try to take the train home...
Yep. Definitely would have put a hurting on someone if I had to deal. So glad I just went to Jersey.
And this is why living in the boonies can come in handy. ;-) My commute on Friday would have been the normal 25 minutes, if I hadn't played hookie to enjoy my birthday.
However, I am glad all of you made it home without commiting homicide. :-)
Thank you all for making me feel good about not working in Manhattan!
LOL, very welcome... and perhaps, not much longer for me...
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