Longest Commute Ever

Since all my favorite TV shows are over for the season, I decided to take my time getting home last night. I perused the racks of the Newbury Street H&M, which was uncharacteristically calm due to the rainy weather. I made a stop at Filene’s Basement. After that, I started getting hungry and decided to head home.

I should have stopped for a snack first, since I had the longest commute since December’s midday blizzard due to the fire in Downtown Crossing.

Two subway stations were evacuated, and MBTA service was suspended for commuters during the evening rush hour after a small electrical fire broke out on tracks just outside the Downtown Crossing station yesterday.

I don’t know exactly when I started my commute home, but it was probably around 6:30. I got a train at Arlington heading for North Station. It crept slowly through the tunnels, skipped Park Street, and finally dumped us out at North Station. I waited another 20 minutes for a Lechmere train, and when one finally showed up, it was only a single car.

“A single f—ing car?” One irate passenger yelled. “We’ve waited this long, and you send a single f—ing car?” The other weary passengers did their best to get away from him.

When I got off the train at Lechmere, I saw throngs of commuters waiting for buses. A harried MBTA employee talked on his cell phone. Eventually, he informed the impatient crowd that a bus would be along in two minutes, blaming the holdup on a flood and the Red Line issues.

Ten minutes later, a bus finally arrived. I walked through my front door over an hour after I boarded the train, queasy from the swaying of the bus and the smell of rush-hour commuters. That’s what I get for taking some time to enjoy the city after work, I suppose.