At least it didn't cost as much as Disneyland

My commute on both ends today was like a demented version of “It’s A Small World After All.” Everything about the Metro, buses and trains, were running off schedule today. My bus came between the usual time and the next time, so I’m still not sure which one it was. There was a switch problem at Pentagon that made the trains creep by with eternal slowness. And I mean slow. Which of course meant that the trains came with significantly lower frequency, and there were three times more people than usual in the station, mostly disgruntled. Then you pack on the train and it’s dark, light, dark, light, over the river, where the train always does the mysterious stop-in-the-middle-of-the-bridge-for-no-particular-reason. And then plunging forth into the bowels of the city once more.

The way back tonight was the true classic, though. For those of you not in DC right now, it is EXTRAORDINARILY dry right now – this is definitely reminiscent of San Diego. It’s a dry heat, and we are enjoying it while we can. But after another jerky, stop and go and terribly long for no apparent reason ride on the Metro, I arrived at the Pentagon station exactly four minutes before my bus was leaving… on the lower platform.

So it was time to bust out my skills, in the half-heels, and off I went. I ran up the big escalator to get to the surface, and thought to myself, “Well, this is why I was raised in San Diego, to get used to the dryness, and all that Frisbee playing was of some use after all…” then jogged on the surface, just fast enough to keep moving, but not so fast that the snipers and uniformed MPs wouldn’t give me a taste of their M16s. Then I tore down the escalator to get to the lower level; through the tunnel, man my feet hurt, around the corner, almost there…

Just in time to see the bus pull away from the curb. There it went. 29E.

I was so upset, I threw my purse at the bench before I sat down, thinking no one was watching. There was a lady about my mom’s age not too far behind me, though. She gave me a bemused smile, which I accepted at that point. It had been a long day at the office and I had needed to throw something all along, so at least that got out of my system.

So this evening, I’ve been researching hybrid cars. They are a many spelendored thing, you know. Over 50 miles to the gallon, a $2,000 tax credit, plus you get to use the HOV lane even if it’s just you. I’m intrigued. Mostly because I am completely disgusted with public transportation at the moment. I had timed everything right today and if the system had been doing its job, there would not have been a problem. I would’ve been at work at 8:30 and home at 7:00, not 7:30, and after sitting in the diesel-scented Pentagon Transit Station. Yuck.

It’s a Monday.