Bad Commute Part 2

After the hellacious morning commute of several Friday’s ago, there was no way in the world that the ride home would be as bad. In fact, I was excited to get back because one of my good friends was celebrating his birthday that night. Mary Anne was working in Castro Valley that day and was going to pick me up when I arrived at the BART station. The weather was so bad that my boss allowed us to go home early. One of my coworkers graciously offered me a ride to the BART, which I quickly and thankfully accepted.

I got on the BART train around 4 o’clock. I was going to get home quickly…

or so I thought.

My cell phone has been having problems. I can charge it all night but when I pick it up in the morning it only has one bar of battery left. Other days it will charge just fine and last several days. However, on this Friday morning it was one of the bad days. Yeah, I know, I should get a new phone but I actually like this phone with the exception of the bad phone to charger connection. I had only one bar but that was all I would need anyway.

Mary Anne was busy at work but still usually gets off at most thirty minutes late. I was calling her multiple times with her phone sending me straight to voice mail. She was supposed to get off at 430 so I thought I could meet her at the Castro Valley station then we could head off straight to our friends birthday dinner.

I waited at the BART station with a FREMONT train sitting there for about 10 minutes. There was no word about why the train sat motionless. After it finally headed off, everyone was relieved. About eight more minutes passed and my DUBLIN/PLEASANTON train finally had arrived. Going home, I can usually get a seat because I get on before BART passes the heart of the financial district. That night was no different. The only problem was the train was already packed after that stop. And as we passed Powell, Montgomery and Embarcadero excess space was non-existent. The horrible storm caused the BART operators to jack up the heat in the train.

So the ride was stuffy but bearable. What wasn’t was being stuck at the Embarcadero station for about 20-30 minutes because the train ahead of us broke down. I just wanted to get out of that train. I think I am borderline claustrophobic. I was sweating, getting anxious. I felt trapped. I was sitting in a window seat with a stranger sitting next to me unable to stretch, knowing that I was still at least half an hour from getting out. After what seemed like an eternity, we finally crawled forward through the underwater tube.

The speakers boomed out, “because of the weather expect 10-15 minute delays.” I think “10-15 minute delays” and a default saying with mass transportation when it is late at all. Because by this time, I would be at least 30 minutes late. When we emerged from the underground and underwater tunnels, the wind looked to be blowing but the rain was no longer as heavy. But I could see cars zooming past us on the freeway. I felt like a snail trudging along, as we would continuously stop throughout the entirety of the trip.

Again I tried to call Mary Anne but still only voicemail. I was getting closer to Castro Valley. I left a message for her to just pick me up at the Dublin station. The beeping of my phone signaling a dying battery was putting me into a panic. Finally, I just told her to pick up at the Dublin Station. Looking through the window after passing the Castro Valley station, I could see the rain falling harder. I decided I couldn’t wait for Mary Anne outside the Dublin Station because I had no idea where she was or how long she would. Having to make a decision, I called my friend whose was having the birthday celebration. He kindly agreed to pick me up and to leave Mary Anne a message letting her know that he would get me.

At 6:20 pm, I finally got off the BART train. The waiting area is located in the middle of the freeway and once I stepped off the train, rain was hitting everyone from the side because of the strong winds. When I left the station and went to the area where passengers are picked up by friends, family, and taxis the rain now was relentless. My umbrella was covering me but my pants were drenched AGAIN in mere seconds. Due to the long BART delays, cars were lined up onto the main street to pick up people. That is a pretty long stretch. So as I got out I walked that entire line of cars getting wetter and wetter while looking for my friend. The line of cars seemed endless but it wasn’t. When I got to the end, I still didn’t see my friend. So I walked it again and again. I had a dead phone, I was soaked, I had to put my umbrella down because the wind was too strong and I just stood there. After waiting for about 10 minute my friend pulls up and I cannot wait to get into that car. Shocked, my friend looked at me and knew what I had went through. He actually went into another area to pick me up because the line of cars was so long. He tried to get a hold of me but my phone was dead. When he realized I wasn’t going to find him he has to make a huge circle to get back in the BART station. While he waited, he said those couple minutes when he first saw passengers coming out “was the hardest he has ever seen it rain.” He knew I was standing out there but he could not do anything. He would have left the car to look for me but he had his 6 mo. old baby in the car. There was nothing he could do. He felt my dockers and regrettable laughed at how soaked they were. At that point I thought we were going to go straight to the restaurant to celebrate his birthday but, thankfully, he brought me home.

Mary Anne got home soon after. When she walked in she just saw a trail of soaked clothes all around the house. I wanted to take a nice, long, hot shower but I had to jet off to the party. I just dried off with a towel, put on some thermals and windbreakers that wouldn’t allow water to soak through me again. I was off to dinner. Dinner was great but the whole night my bones felt cold. In fact, ever since that day, it feels like I have been fighting off some sickness and I get hot and cold spells at random times.

The bottomline is commuting sucks!

Sorry, I have stories since then as that was two weeks ago, but because of the response from the last post I decided to tell everyone about part 2.

Coming up: stories from my birthday and monkfish