Rain, Trains & Buses

Living in a big city the immense convenience of having mass public transportation outlets (i.e. Trains, Subways and Busses) is that you no longer have to drive to every destination. You're free to let someone else worry about maneuvering through the grid lock of Midtown traffic or simply bypass it all via an underground subway. Living in a big city the immense inconvenience of having mass public transportation outlets (i.e. Subways, Busses and Taxi's) is that if the weather strikes you're left with a three hour commute to work and a city up-in-arms trying to figure out how to get onto Manhattan. Such was the case yesterday-- which was coincidentally my three month anniversary of living in Manhattan.

Here's the back story: At about 6 A.M. thunder and lightening were clashing outside my bedroom window. The rain was violently batting against the fire escape and I thought it almost calming that I could get another hour of sleep amidst the heavy rain. I was secretly hoping it would continue raining, so that I could leisurely stroll into work. It's often treacherous walking in the rain to the subway and from the subway to the office. I'm talking-- hiking up your pant legs -- Olympic style leaping over puddles and dodging splashes from passing taxi's. It's the obstacle course of the urban jungle.

As the lightning and thunder became increasingly violent, little did I know a tornado was touching ground in lower Brooklyn. It will later be reported that trees and cars were damaged in Bayridge, Brooklyn by the turbulent weather.

I wake up assuming its just a regular day. Getting ready for work and strolling to the subway stop just two blocks away from my apartment. The attendant tells me 'Q' train isn't running and neither is the 'B' because of the rain. So, I have to take the bus to the Atlantic/Pacific terminal down the road about 2.5 miles or so. At this point it's 7:45 A.M. and everyone is trying to get to work with no means of getting into Manhattan unless you walk the bridges, bike the bridges or take a car over the bridges.

The line to get on a bus was ridiculous. Everyone and their grandmother stood waiting in no particular organized manner for a bus to pull up to the curb, which coincidentally were all packed to the very stairs with people by the time it pulled up. This only lead me to get aggressive with the my neighbors by the time the 7th or 8th bus pulled up and I realized that, that was the only way I was getting to work. By now, I've already called in late and it's 8:15 A.M. Once on the bus, I was literally breathing on one lady and somehow supporting the entire body weight of another who had no where to hold onto as the bus was in motion. My nostrils stung of my cologne, the ladies horrendous odor of fried chicken, stale cigarette smoke and some combination of listerine and morning breath. As we stood in traffic, because the bus really wasn't going anywhere due to the back up of traffic from everyone taking a taxi, driving or in a car service vehicle, the people on the street passed us by. For a brief second I contemplated walking, but found comfort in the air conditioned bus and secretly hoped people would not all be going to the Atlantic Terminal. Bits and pieces of news started flowing around the bus as the passengers frantically got on their phones to tell their friends and family just to stay at home, call into work or find out what the news was saying. By 9:30 I had arrived to the terminal with every possible subway line out-of-order. There were no trains leaving Brooklyn to Manhattan. The subway paths were obstructed by debris and flooded with water from the storm. I opted for some breakfast (I thought I might as well make the best of it because I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon) and walked to my old subway station. As luck would have it the subway began running just as I walked into the turn-stile and I hoped on the 'Q' train only to get stuck over the Manhattan Bridge for 20 mins. before moving into Manhattan.

The short of it is that I wound up with a three hour commute to work arriving somewhere around 10:30 A.M. The only thing that could have possibly made the entire "Amazing Race- Manhattan Edition" worse is if it was raining. I found it both frustrating and hysterical at the same time to see hundreds of people swarm to the streets, walking and talking on their cellphones, pulling into bagel shops for a bite, looking around lost and wondering what to do to get to work. It was like Mardi Gras minus the drunken sheraides and flashing. Apparently, this is what the blackout was like a while back.

So what did I learn from all of the chaos and mass transit hysteria that ensued yesterday? It all comes with the territory and you gotta take it all in stride. I suppose this isn't exactly the outlook of a "New Yorker," but then again this city continues to surprise me in all its many splendors. I've been here for three months and I'm growing very much accustom to the lifestyle I craved way back in 3rd Grade when I said I'd move here someday. There's a lot going on every day and there's something to be said when I've managed to survive these three months on my own. It's exciting, it's a sense of accomplishment, it's rewarding and above all else it's what I wanted.

"If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere." I don't know if I can officially say "I've made it" in New York, but I'm certainly enjoying whatever it is that it takes to "making it."

Cheers.