tavie.com

Who knew? New York City is not equipped to handle rainstorms. I don't remember there being this many problems with the subways in a rainstorm when I was younger. Is the whole system just breaking down, or is it because my commute was much less frequent when I was a kid?

The F train stopped in the tunnel between 47-50 and 57th today for about ten minutes. Then at 57th we were all told to get out, that no trains were going through the 63rd street tunnel (read: the only way home to Roosevelt Island by subway) and that all trains were going back to Brooklyn due to massive flooding at 21st street. No train service to Queens.

No train service to Queens?

After much confusion and crowding, we were told to come upstairs, where they were handing out bus passes and directing people to the N and R train. None of which helped me, of course.

"How do I get to Roosevelt Island, then?" I asked, fearing the answer.

"You can't get to Roosevelt Island," he said flatly.

That's it? I can't get home? No trains at all to Roosevelt Island? I asked several people, uniformed and non-, all of whom gave me different answers. No answers diverged more than those spoken by different uniformed people. The left hand has no idea, and the right hand is a drooling moron.

Finally, I ended up doing what I'd feared I'd have to do all along, and walked in the rainstorm from 56th and 6th to 59th and 2nd*, where, of course, the tram was not running due to lightning. It was quite a squelchy, teeth-chattery walk at that.

What really pisses me off is that they never, ever, ever divert a city bus for Roosevelt Islanders in this kind of situation. Even during the blackout they didn't bother to try and get shuttles to take us home. We were simply left to fend for ourselves. And if they weren't going to help us in a massive blackout, they certainly weren't going to help us during a storm.

That's when I got really lucky. Some people (all of whom turned out to know each other, everyone except me, I didn't find out until later!) decided to share a cab and invited me along. Of course, there were no cabs, but then one of them remembered that her husband worked nearby and had a car about 10 blocks away. 10 minutes later we were all riding in cozy warmth over the bridge.

They sure were nice. Some of them appeared to be Belgian. At least, they mentioned watching Belgian news, and spoke with Frenchy accents (except the kids.) There were two middle-aged women, two 13-year-old boys, and an older gentleman.

They didn't even ask me where I lived, so I guess they must have recognized me from the elevator or something, because we all got out in front of my building. (How embarrassing! They recognized me and I had no clue we were all neighbours!)

Good Samaritans save the day yet again. I was the stupid one, going in to work today. Everyone else in my family stayed home. What was I thinking, trying to earn a living during a rainstorm?

*Non New-Yorkers note that this is 6 long avenues, not 4.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 8:34 PM | shower me with attention