Prolonged Autumn...

I love city living, but I don't love city driving. In fact, I like to avoid driving as often as possible, so I ride the train a lot. I like to tell myself this is to help decrease my carbon footprint and to be nicer to Mother Nature, but mostly, it's just 'cuz I don't have the patience to deal with traffic.

Really though, taking the train is a win-win, for me. It gets me out and moving (which is extra nice since I'm not working downtown anymore) but what I like best is that, while I'm out and about, I get to see the city from many different angles.

The last couple weeks it seems like I've been riding around on the train more frequently, in my day to day business, for this and that. It struck me today, walking home from the train, that we are in November now, and it's still acting like Autumn. I've always loved the Fall, but normally it's here and gone in 2 weeks.. We've been having cooler temperatures, yes, but this may be the longest Fall season that I remember having. I love it!

I recognize that the Midwest likes to average out its temperatures (meaning that we'll probably have a brutal winter) but these gorgeous blue skies and colorful leaves make it all seem worth it!

Entertainment on the Train

I've ridden the El pretty much every day during the week, and fairly often on the weekends too, for nearly 4 years. In that time, I have noticed that there is a significant difference between commute riders and weekend riders.

Weekend riders are there for fun, they often travel in packs. Loud and boisterous packs. They're dressed to go out! Or, if they're riding solo, often they will hold scintillating conversations on their phones. You can often learn a lot about this type of rider.

On the other hand, commuters are much much quieter. For the most part, they don't talk to anybody; they don't look at anybody. They're lost in their ear-buds or buried in a book. The majority of the time, commuters are there to just get wherever they are going. When the train gets super crowded, to deal with being shoved cheek to jowl, they like to pretend they are alone in the train - if they don't make eye contact or acknowledge anyone, it's almost like the offending invader-of-personal-space is not there!

I have to admit, I fall very solidly into the latter category. I get secret amusement from weekend riders, but I'm totally the pretend-you're-alone-and-the-others-aren't-there type of rider. However, secretly I'm a people watcher, so if an opportunity arises, I often take carefully casual notice.

For example, this morning, the cutest little girl (probably around 5 or 6yrs old) and her dad got on and sat in the seat right in front of mine. The dad looked half asleep and the little girl seemed really excited and climbed up into an empty seat, turning around so her little nose was practically pressed up against the window. She took off her winter hat and her curly hair was all tousled. She had the biggest brown eyes and adorable chubby cheeks and looked around so quietly, and solemnly, and with the soft morning light coming in through the window, I couldn't help but glance at her from the corner of my eye. You could almost imagine she'd be the perfect model for a baby-faced, early morning angel picture, she was that adorable.

For a few minutes, she looked out the window, then she looked at me and smiled a shy, little smile. Then she returned her gaze back out the window. Then, she reached up with her tiny little finger and plucked a booger from her nose.

That totally made my commute.. heh. Since I don't take pictures of stranger's children (even if they're picking their noses) you'll just have to use this as an aid for your imagination.
Ah, People-watching. You gotta take the good with the funny :)

Not So Bad After All

On a normal day, I take the train to work and I can get there in roughly 20mins. Yesterday, as I got to the train platform, they were making announcements about an emergency medical response that was holding up the trains going in both directions and were recommending that, if possible, passengers consider taking a bus.

Happily, I knew which bus will take me in the general area of where I needed to go and so, rather than wait around getting super frustrated, I turned heel and caught the first bus downtown.

Truth be told, the change to my commute wasn't terrible.. since I'd given up on the trains early, the crowd waiting at the bus stop hadn't grown impossibly large yet and the bus wasn't insanely crowded.. And, even though it took 40mins to get downtown and I had to walk an extra 6 blocks, I DID got to work on time.
Still, it was a little frustrating.

Then this morning, in the Chicago Tribune, I came across this picture of a morning commute in India after their trains went down:

( photo by Rajanish Kakade via Chicago Tribune)

Ok, I don't feel so bad about my commute anymore.

And the transit gods smiled down

There are lots of things involved when moving. There's the packing and the organizing and the throwing away of old junk that you really just don't need. (that part actually is almost cathartic..) But then there's the hauling and the dragging and invariably, when it's my turn to do all this, it rains.

However, on the upside, once you've managed to accomplish all of these very ambitious activities, you find yourself in a new place, with a fresh start full of endless possibilities!

I'm still working on organizing the actual house portion of this moving business, however, not everything is as labor intensive as all that. The change in commute is pretty much an automatic switch; in order to get home, I have to go a different way.

One nice thing about living in the city is that public transportation is readily available, though some options are better than others. For example, the buses around here are almost unusable. Sooooo unreliable and so incredibly s l o w. However, the trains are GREAT!

Previously, I was living just north of the city and I took the express train to and from work. It was pretty nice. The train was, without question, the quickest way there and back again.. however, it still took about 40mins to get downtown and if you factor in wait time, you're looking at almost an entire hour just to go one way. But the express had its upsides.. it is elevated the entire way and the view can be quite nice.
Also, when the train went express, it wouldn't stop for nearly 15mins. I am one of those who is blessed with the ability to sleep pretty much on command, and through pretty much anything, so those 15mins were perfect for using as a naptime. It was pretty great :) So, each day (if i got a seat) I would get a quick power nap going to and from work.
Maybe not the most glamorous pastime, but it was a pretty sweet arrangement.

With the move and the new commute, comes a new train line. There are some drawbacks to riding on this line regularly. One hears rumors of this particular line: It has "slow-zones" ... sometimes it is unpredictable ... it runs underground for about half of the trip ... sometimes it gets really packed ...
Ugh.

However, my commute that was once an hour in length has now been significantly reduced. Where once I would leave work at 4:57 and get home at 5:55pm (on a good day) today I left the office at 4:57 and was at the train stop by work at 5:01. I stepped off the stairs descending into the station and directly onto a waiting train and was immediately whisked away. We arrived at the stop by home at 5:13 and I was in the door by 5:19.

Bring on the crowds. Bring on the intensely raucous echoes as the train passes through the darkness of the underground tunnels: My commute is only 20 mins door to door.

I am a happy happy commuter.