Lousy Monday… Until It Wasn’t

For some reason I had trouble getting out of the house this morning and it snowed!?!? Everything just seemed to take twice as long as normal. I got out of the house 10 minutes later than usual but got nearly all green lights so I was happy on my way to the train station, that is until the freight train stopped me on Bartlett Rd where the freight trains always wait until rush hour to go through Bartlett. I can usually beat it if I leave on time, if I don’t it’s a crap shoot, maybe 50/50 but there it was, just sitting there, not moving and one lousy train car was still on the tracks and time was slipping by. Finally, after losing 5 minutes I gained back by getting all green lights I was back to 10 minutes behind. No biggie, plenty of time, I pad my commute so this should work out fine.

That is, until the school bus in front of me stopped, well another no big deal right? Nope, this bus stopped every block for these teenage kids perfectly capable of meeting at one or two stops, but no, the bus even stops for them if they’re running out of their house. 12 stops we make in 3 blocks and what do these kids do as they plod along care free and not caring that traffic is now backed up for nearly 2 blocks behind me? Why they run back to mommy to get a kiss or grab that lunch they forgot or to wait for that other kid who is walking along as if on her way to the gas chamber. Nearly 14 minutes goes by as we all wait for the future of America to finally load onto the bus 18 times in total (I think, I may be off by a few) for what should have been 3 stops. Hey, you too lazy to get to the bus stop tough, stay home and explain it to the school, but we live in different times now, personal responsibility is so 30 years ago, no place for it in todays society.

We’re talking 12 suburban blocks here folks, maybe 3 or 4 houses long per block and these kids get picked up at every single corner or house whichever they feel like. I have to admit, my blood pressure was going at a pretty good clip when I finally saw that bus make a right turn to go the 1/2 mile to the school these kids couldn’t walk to. Seriously, a bus for this commute? Good grief…

I finally get to the train station and the parking machine charges me for 2 days. I begin to wonder if today is the day to go to work, visions of “Final Destination” start going through my head, maybe I should work from home today, nuts, I know better so I get onto the train and the lady that sits across from me one stop down gets on at the Schaumburg station and I explain my commute so far.

Her response, I smashed into my mothers car this morning …. this is the second time I have done this. Now, mind you this lady is my age so we both get a good laugh at this and this also helps put things into perspective. She has to call her mother when she gets to work and explain to her how she hit her car, again. Her mother is never going to leave her car there again! Guaranteed!

The rest of the trip goes smoothly and we have a pleasant conversation until we get into Union Station and the cattle lines aren’t moving. No idea why but we get to stand there for 5 minutes while the train next to us idles at full throttle. Doesn’t matter at this point, I haven’t hit anything, I’m safely in Chicago and what could go wrong from here right? Thankfully nothing did, I made it the 3/4 of a mile walk to work with no issues. Can’t wait to see what Tuesday brings!

By the way, on average my commute each way is 2 hours making for 4 hours of travel each day of the week. Thankfully half is on the train so I can relax.