Adventures in Boston Travel

[gnomi]

On my way home last night, I was planning to go to Trader Joe's in Coolidge Corner (for yummy dark-chocolate-covered blueberries and soy milk), so instead of taking the Red line to Harvard and then the 66 bus, I took the Red line to the Green line. Easy, right? No problem. I left work at 5, walked to the Kendall Square station, and went down into the station. I'd just missed a train, but I got lucky -- another train (toward Braintree, but I was only going a couple of stops) was coming right away. Great, I thought. I was running early, but that was good because mabfan and I were planning, after dinner, to visit our friend S who just had a baby on Monday.

I got to Park St. at 5:15 and go upstairs. Within about two minutes, a Green Line C (the train I needed, headed to Cleveland Circle) pulled into Park St. I got on the train (at the back car, even though by then I'd spoken to mabfan and found out I didn't need to stop at Trader Joe's), got a seat, and pulled out my knitting. The train filled up (very full; I'm not sure where all these people came from based on the population on the platform before the train pulled in), the doors closed, the train started to pull out of Park St., and about a minute after the back of the back train cleared the station, we stopped. There was no immediate communication from the train crew, but since it was rush hour and the T tends to be quite congested at that time, we all figured we were caught behind other trains ahead of us trying to get into and out of Boylston as fast as they could.

So we sat. And sat. And sat. After about ten minutes, the conductor came on the intercom and said, "We're going to be slightly delayed, but we'll be moving soon." The people around me shuffled their feet but looked resigned. About five minutes later, the conductor came on the air again. "We're still delayed, but we should be moving soon." At that point it was about 5:30, so I pulled out my phone and, surprised to find signal, I called mabfan to tell him I was delayed until who knows when. As I was talking to him, there was another announcement: We were going to be delayed, but there was an official on-scene, so things should be moving shortly. Knowing that "moving shortly" could mean "We'll be sitting here for another 45 minutes," I told mabfan I'd call when I got to St. Mary's (the first stop on the C outside the tunnel), and we hung up.

There was a garbled message from the conductor that said something about "evacuating," causing all the people around me to look at each other confusedly, but at that point I put my knitting away. A couple of minutes later, there was moving at the back-back door of the car, and people started moving. We were being evacuated back to Park St. (about a 1/2 block walk through the tunnel), where there was another C train waiting for us. That train ended up even more crowded than the original C, but we eventually all got on and were moving through the other side of the tunnel (we passed the stuck train, and we saw that the people on the front car had not been evacuated and were still waiting).

It was 6:00 when we got to Kenmore. We stopped briefly at Kenmore and then continued toward St. Mary's. And then we stopped. Apparently, there was traffic in front of us, so we sat in the tunnel for another ten minutes. When we eventually got above ground, I called mabfan and said that if we were delayed any further I was going to just get off and walk home.

Thankfully, the rest of my trip home was uneventful, and we were able to go out and visit S with little trouble.

Some of my travel-stress-payment got refunded, however, on our way home from the hospital. We'd decided to see if we could flag a cab along Brookline Ave. (the main street in front of the hospital), and I spotted one traveling along the opposite side of the street from us. On a whim, I stuck out my hand to hail him. The driver saw me, made an immediate U-turn (in local parlance, "banged a u-ey"), and picked us up. To thank him, we gave him a generous tip. :-)

Comments

[madknits.livejournal.com]

You hang a left. You hang a right. But you bang a u-ey. Why is that?

And Trader Joe's has the best meringues! The vanilla ones never last long around me.

[rikchik.livejournal.com]

The curve at the bottom of an "b" is twice the curve in an "h".

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I've also seen "bang a left" and "bang a right" when it's done in haste, but, yeah -- "hang" is common for left and right.

As for why it's "bang a u-ey," I'm finding that everyone says it *is*, but no one is saying *why.* I'll have to investigate this further.

I love the TJs meringues. They're great for my mom, who's wheat-intolerant, and they're all-around tasty.

[seborn.livejournal.com]

1) Wow, that commute sucked. I'm sorry getting home took you so long.
2) Wow, you got to legitimately walk through the Green Line tunnel. I'm jealous.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

That was my reaction too, when she came home. "You got to walk through the tunnel? Cool!"

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I've never been so happy to see St. Mary's Street. :-|

[twitch124.livejournal.com]

wow.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Not fun.

On the up side, though, I ended up doing so much knitting that I was able to finish the penguin last night.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I, too, am jealous that you got to walk through the tunnel.

I'm still unclear why you wouldn't've just done your usual commute and stayed on the 66 a couple of stops more than usual, though.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I'm still unclear why you wouldn't've just done your usual commute and stayed on the 66 a couple of stops more than usual, though.

Because under normal conditions (meaning no wackiness like last night and no Sox home game) it takes 35-45 minutes to get from my office to Coolidge Corner going Red-to-Green and close to an hour (because of additional surface traffic both going over the bridge and going up Harvard Ave./Harvard St.) if I do it via the 66.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Now I'm confused: if there's that much difference, why not take Red-to-Green every day and walk the extra bit, which would be less time overall?

(I'm not meaning to be annoying; feel free not to answer.)

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

It's all a matter of which errands I need to run. If I have to get to Butcherie before they close at 6, I do better with the 66 (since the bus goes right there), and if I need stuff that I can find more easily in Harvard Square, then I take the 66; if I need to get to Coolidge Corner, I go that way.

These days, I've been doing the Red-to-Green route more often in the evening than I used to, but I still take the bus when I need the lower end of Harvard St.

(I still take the 66 almost every morning, because in the to-Harvard direction at 6:45-ish in the morning it's actually faster to take the bus, plus I get a seat within two stops.)

[betra.livejournal.com]

wow. This makes me actually MISS Boston and the T...and THANK YOU for saying "Bang a u-ey" because it gave me a warm, fuzzy, nostalgic feeling. And how cool..you got to walk in the tunnel!

PS: we want pics of the knitting

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I think of it as "make a u-ey" or "bang a u-ey" most of the time. Proof positive I'm a native. :-)

Most of the time, I really like the T. It's just nights like last night that make me go grrrrrrrr.

There will be knitting pics soooon. I finished it last night after we got back from visiting at the hospital, but I was too tired to lay it out and photograph it (because it's a biiiiiiiiiiiiig penguin), so I'll do that tonight.

[betra.livejournal.com]

YAY PENGUINS! boo delays on the T

I feel your pain, really. I can't count the times I had to slog in the summer heat to Harvard Sq because of Red Line issues and a total lack of buses.

bleah.

Tunnel cell signals

[(Anonymous)]

You got a cell phone signal outside of Park Street because its one of the terminals that has now been fully wired for cellular service. I believe the network includes Park Street, Downtown Crossing and Government Center, as well as all the tunnels that connect that crazy hub. My information is not precise and can not be looked upon as certain or complete.

Re: Tunnel cell signals

[arfur]

The installation you describe is in place; it's also at South Station, which is nice.

But you've been able to get intermittent signal in the tremont st and bolyston st subway for as long as I've had a cell phone (those early cut-and-cover tunnels are very close to the surface).

[gingicat]

Ick, what a pain.

I once had a commute much like that with Joshua in the carriage - that's when I bought the Ergo carrier.

[eal.livejournal.com]

Okay, not knowing you at all, but this caught my attention.

Ergo carrier? I've been hearing alot about them lately. What do you like/dislike about it?

(Sorry to hijack the conversation, gnomi

[gingicat]

I like that it really does distribute the child's weight over my frame, similar to a good backpack. And the three positions are handy. It was really hard to get a good strategy for getting in and out of it by myself, though. But it was a very good follow-up to the Baby Bjorn, which really gets hard on the back after the baby gets over 12 pounds.

Another nifty carrier is the Mei Tai (haven't used it, but it looks cool); example at http://www.babyhawk.com. I've also used the Maya Wrap and liked it, but not so good for 25lb+ kid with low muscle tone.

[eal.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we had a bjorn with B and when he hit the 15 lb mark, I couldn't use it anymore.

He's way over needing one, but I'm researching for future possibilities and these are good resources.

Thanks!

[autotruezone.livejournal.com]

Well, that goes at least partway towards explaining why when I entered Park Street later that evening, they were boarding C and D cars on the track that's usually reserved for B and E.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Yeah; I have no idea how long it took to get the stuck train unstuck.

(I was wondering what this "police action at Kenmore" was about when I was going home)

[toonhead-npl.livejournal.com]

If you're noticing lots of new eyeballs here. you got a mention on Universal Hub.

Re: (I was wondering what this "police action at Kenmore" was about when I was going home)

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

There was a "police action" at Kenmore? I missed that completely.

And thanks for the pointer to UH. That might explain the anonymous comment above.

[sfrose.livejournal.com]

You know about the MBTA On Time Service Guarantee", Don't you? The website says that you have 10 days to fill out the claim, so it may be too late, but it doesn't hurt to try.

Even if you have monthly passes, you will get "replacement" fares in the form a a Charlie Ticket. Those can be cashed in, or given to a visiting friend.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know about it, and I filled out the form, so with luck there will be a refund coming at some point.

[sfrose.livejournal.com]

OK. Just making sure. There are people who use the T everyday and don't, or don't realize that just because they have a monthly pass it doesn't mean that they won't be getting fares.

But be patient about how long it takes. The Green Line brokedown the morning I arrived from Westercon (red-eye flight.) I submitted the form and didn't get the refund until sometime in November. And another refund arrived within days, I don't even remember the failure case for that one!

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

They now warn you that it takes (I think) 4-6 weeks to process. Which is a long time, but since I'm on a monthly pass I don't really mind.

[sfrose.livejournal.com]

Maybe they've gotten better...

I was hoping that they would apply the credit to my Charlie Card. (I gave the ID when I filled out the form.) That way it was worth a little more and I didn't have to worry about the extra tickets. But I guess there could be complaints if people lost their Card in the mean time.

But I figure that I'll have the tickets to give to people who may need it during Boskone.