New Jersey Transit, the Lincoln Tunnel, and Port Authority Bus Terminal have decided to make the last week before Thanksgiving a week that I wish never happened. Don't they know that my Birthday is next week?!
They say it's all because of Hurricane Sandy....but I'm not buying it.
On Monday morning there was a bus accident in one of the tunnels. I stood on a bus for 2.5 hours. Of course to make matters worse:
A.) I went shooting the day before, where I stood for almost 5 hours tensing muscles I don't often use. Granted, it was amazing fun and I would do it again in a heartbeat (even knowing what was going to happen the next day). But, it was hard enough standing in my bathroom drying my hair the next morning, let alone standing on a crowded bus for two and a half hours.
B.) The guy sitting beside me had his legs open (in an effort to leave room for his "special cargo?"), so one of his legs was out in the aisle the WHOLE time. This gave me even less room to stand. Thanks, Dude, by the way.
C.) Not one single person offered their seat half-way through the trip to someone who had been standing. It's funny how easy is it to ignore people in need so you can stay comfortable. I'm not even just saying this for myself, though I would have loved a seat. I would have felt 50% better about humanity if even one person had stood up, turned to the person beside them and said, "Here, take a seat. You've been standing for longer than an hour. I'll stand the rest of the way into the city." This, obviously, did not happen.
Also, every night this week, we've dealt with inconceivably long lines in Port Authority Bus Terminal. We normally deal with lines but:
A.) These are massively mutated lines. Lines that are comparable only to the monstrous lines at Harry Potter World in Florida. There's tons of lines coming out of the North Wing that wind their way into the South where you are greeted by New York's Finest, who know less than you do (if that's possible). The lines converge at the end in a mob of ignorant people. You must include yourself in this ignorant group because you know nothing and will know nothing until you get home and realize you still know nothing.
B.) The lines will just stop moving for long periods of time for some unknown reason. Being at the end of the lines, you might as well be in the middle of "no cell service" New Mexico for all of the info you're going to receive about what's happening up ahead.
C.) More standing. That's really all I've done this week. Last night I watched a pregnant woman repeatedly sit down on the floor during the 40 minutes we waited, only to be pulled back up by other passengers when the line would briefly move. I wished in those moments that I could offer her something more comfortable than the floor to sit on.
We're all dealing quietly with what's happening. Nothing about it in the news, and no hope that anything will change anytime soon. We'll just keep on going. This is our lives on NJTransit....
Thankful? I think not.
I leave you humming "Under Control."
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