Rant about my commute

[Squeech]

First thing I do is walk a mile to the subway station. Now that it's getting warmer, it's almost pleasant-- except that the good citizens of Somerville think nothing of strewing their trash all over the sidewalks, and now that the snow is thawing it's even more evident. All sorts of crap: expired phone cards, unlucky lottery tickets, used napkins, empty bottles and cans and coffee cups-- even a bag from Burger King, and there isn't one within a mile in any direction.

I policed the area some, but the sheer quantity of flotsam was just overwhelming. How can we expect people to give a shit about global warming if they don't even care how their own streets look?

Then the orange line was experiencing one of its all too frequent hissy fits: trains were going inbound (the way all we commuters need to go) at exactly half the rate they were going outbound, which is to say that there were six trains heading out to Malden in the time I was waiting for a train heading in the inbound direction that had enough room on it for me to get on, which was the third train. I was fifteen minutes early when I left the house; I got to work fifteen minutes late.

I really don't want to confront Mondays in a foul mood; that's such a boring cliche. But it sure does seem to work out that way.

[stellanoir]

1. Ughhhh. . .Well here's hoping that. . .

you have the worst of the hassles of the week behind you now.

At least there apparently won't be any more paralyzing precipitation till the end of the week .

And spring is officially a week away. . .Yay.

[Squeech]

2. Yay!

I WANT MY SOLSTICE!

(Is there a tantrum emoticon?)

[stellanoir]

7. Well,

There was a somewhat spaced out Lunar square to Neptune between 7&8 this morn. Imagine if you will, commuting through the Twilight Zone.

Heads up for a snarky Solar square to Pluto this evening at 6:11.
Sometime power trippers are unavoidable under that one.

Yet , the rest of the aspects for the day are most pleasant.

Don't know dukey about emoticons though.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

3. A note on the garbage issue

that crappy storm with the 60 MPH winds we had last week fell on garbage day in my neighborhood. There was crap strewn all over the place, barrels blown down the street etc. It will be really gross when everything melts. Of course Street Cleaning just manages to blow the garbage from the gutters back onto the sidewalk and into people's front yards.

Sorry your day started off on the wrong foot! The Orange Line can definitely suck. I often think there's a socio-economic reason why-it goes to poorer neighborhoods.

[Squeech]

8. I couldn't agree more

Remember when the T ran that accountability campaign, where they invited riders to call up the managers of their line and complain about the bad service? So I did, in January, the day it took 75 minutes for three trains to go by (and for me to get on one). The phone was answered by a receptionist type who told me nobody was available but that the manager would call me back. Never happened.

The manager of the Orange Line was the one non-white face in the ads. Not that I care personally, but I know that there's widespread perception that the T is itself a racist institution, and I wonder whether they gave him the job because the Orange Line is known to be the worst performer, or whether his workers fuck up just to cause him grief and the corporate culture protects them. I know, from what happened that day in January, that people in the field lie to the officers, but whether it's ass-covering or malice I don't know.

I do think the Orange Line is the worst performer of the bunch, even though the Blue Line has older equipment. But I've never tried to ride the Blue Line during rush hour, and certainly not in icy conditions. (One problem the Orange Line apparently has is, they can't start the Diesels on the coldest days. The management problem is, this comes as a surprise to them, EVERY DAMNED WINTER!)

[unblock]

4. i spend about 4 hours total commute time everyday.

feel better now?

[SCDem]

6. Mine is 2 hourse

But I wish we had mass transit because it's lonely me in a car with hour to work and hour back

[Bertha Venation]

5. Sounds like DC.

Did you get looks from people for picking up trash? I do and I hate it. I want to tell the lookers, "don't just stand there, nimrod. Pick up trash!"

But the cynic in me knows they'd just say, "why? I didn't drop it."