Buses and Cell Phones
I am very busy and very tired. We are in the middle of tax season and almost at the end of the winter. But I need to write this blog. I want you all to know that I am ok and everything is fine.
Last best story around the town is not about the boys coming over for a Sunday night, neither the work out super crowd at Bally’s last night but the snow storm that blistered the Midwest and the North East. Folks down in the South feel the cold temperatures and rain storms, but nothing like the icy heavy watery snow that started to pour down since last night.
The bus ride in the morning was a mess. Usually takes me about 20-25 minutes to get down in the Loop and get to work. Sometimes I like to get an earlier buss so the ride goes faster. But lately (today and yesterday) I had to show up at a bus stop up the street to avoid the crowd. The more stops a bus has to make the less chance you’ll fit in that bus; or the next, or the next to the next…
Early morning around 7.30 and the Midwest Sun wasn’t shining above the lake. The clouds were heavy and storming their flour. You would guess Christmas is coming and Kurt gets ready in the kitchen for his famous cookies to share with friends and co-workers, but this time is mid February. No cookies, Christmas is gone for a long now but we are not ready for spring yet.
In fact, this is the 3rd snow in Chicago this winter. It wasn’t a bad season. A little chillier the last couple of weeks, but before everything is over or Canadian friends (the flurries, that is) are showing us support and confidence. They are ready to come. And they are coming…
After I arrived in the office, the storm was about to start. The River view from the 24th floor of the Opera Building on Wacker was all about making cookies. Like a gigantic chef, the sky was mixing in the ingredients: here some water, here some cold, there some dough and some people struggling to walk as quick as possible, all topped (hmmm…) with some frozen icing. I would watch this Winter Chef show on my very own 4 big windows corner office that I share with other 2 guys. Just like a plasma screen without the crystals but with real life and real people, the stories were about to come.
The day passed fast enough (with help of some cups of fresh coffee) after the 4 hours sleep last night. The cold is refreshing also and keeps me awake. Well, I am not sure if it was the cold or maybe just the wind. The sound was about to shake the building. It did try the windows but didn’t catch me.
But than again was time to leave the skies on the 24th floor and go to the daily bus that crowds mainly young professionals and pretty girls back to the boystown and the “other” life… The night was getting ready to hit, but I was ready to hit the road.
I took the bus back home again. Here we are, all packed up from my bus stop. Everybody was tired and the ride seemed to be a very long one. Indeed, the bus was hardly moving. The traffic was bad, like really bad.
It took us two hours! I mean 2 hours what usually drives in 10 minutes without traffic. No stops, just driving and still hardly moving.
As usual, the people felt asleep, almost everybody. You could see them balancing their heads as the bus was pushing its way on the snow.
And there is the surprise and the funny noise. In the middle of the dreams there is a cell phone ring and everybody started adjusting themselves. They woke up realizing the bus was hardly moving. We were almost where we started. All like a big family or like the same body if you wish, all with the same thought in minds: where we are and if we will make it to destination, but also how fast- or slow this time.
The Pink Razor that made that noise was the most alive between us. We were all like brothers and sisters and people start calling their friends or families saying that they are still riding the bus but nobody knows where we are and how long it will be before we’ll reach the destination.
This is the winter story of a city that knows to sleep. They sleep at night but not only. They also sleep when the cell phones won’t ring; they sleep in the bus, the perfect place for a quick nap, morning, night of afternoon. The sleep is the second to reading a book or a magazine. To have the picture complete, even when a book is open in from of their eyes, the Blackberry on their hands and the Ipod is pumping the bits in the ears, people still go to sleep.
Good night Chicago, we’re glad you’re riding the CTA!
Last best story around the town is not about the boys coming over for a Sunday night, neither the work out super crowd at Bally’s last night but the snow storm that blistered the Midwest and the North East. Folks down in the South feel the cold temperatures and rain storms, but nothing like the icy heavy watery snow that started to pour down since last night.
The bus ride in the morning was a mess. Usually takes me about 20-25 minutes to get down in the Loop and get to work. Sometimes I like to get an earlier buss so the ride goes faster. But lately (today and yesterday) I had to show up at a bus stop up the street to avoid the crowd. The more stops a bus has to make the less chance you’ll fit in that bus; or the next, or the next to the next…
Early morning around 7.30 and the Midwest Sun wasn’t shining above the lake. The clouds were heavy and storming their flour. You would guess Christmas is coming and Kurt gets ready in the kitchen for his famous cookies to share with friends and co-workers, but this time is mid February. No cookies, Christmas is gone for a long now but we are not ready for spring yet.
In fact, this is the 3rd snow in Chicago this winter. It wasn’t a bad season. A little chillier the last couple of weeks, but before everything is over or Canadian friends (the flurries, that is) are showing us support and confidence. They are ready to come. And they are coming…
After I arrived in the office, the storm was about to start. The River view from the 24th floor of the Opera Building on Wacker was all about making cookies. Like a gigantic chef, the sky was mixing in the ingredients: here some water, here some cold, there some dough and some people struggling to walk as quick as possible, all topped (hmmm…) with some frozen icing. I would watch this Winter Chef show on my very own 4 big windows corner office that I share with other 2 guys. Just like a plasma screen without the crystals but with real life and real people, the stories were about to come.
The day passed fast enough (with help of some cups of fresh coffee) after the 4 hours sleep last night. The cold is refreshing also and keeps me awake. Well, I am not sure if it was the cold or maybe just the wind. The sound was about to shake the building. It did try the windows but didn’t catch me.
But than again was time to leave the skies on the 24th floor and go to the daily bus that crowds mainly young professionals and pretty girls back to the boystown and the “other” life… The night was getting ready to hit, but I was ready to hit the road.
I took the bus back home again. Here we are, all packed up from my bus stop. Everybody was tired and the ride seemed to be a very long one. Indeed, the bus was hardly moving. The traffic was bad, like really bad.
It took us two hours! I mean 2 hours what usually drives in 10 minutes without traffic. No stops, just driving and still hardly moving.
As usual, the people felt asleep, almost everybody. You could see them balancing their heads as the bus was pushing its way on the snow.
And there is the surprise and the funny noise. In the middle of the dreams there is a cell phone ring and everybody started adjusting themselves. They woke up realizing the bus was hardly moving. We were almost where we started. All like a big family or like the same body if you wish, all with the same thought in minds: where we are and if we will make it to destination, but also how fast- or slow this time.
The Pink Razor that made that noise was the most alive between us. We were all like brothers and sisters and people start calling their friends or families saying that they are still riding the bus but nobody knows where we are and how long it will be before we’ll reach the destination.
This is the winter story of a city that knows to sleep. They sleep at night but not only. They also sleep when the cell phones won’t ring; they sleep in the bus, the perfect place for a quick nap, morning, night of afternoon. The sleep is the second to reading a book or a magazine. To have the picture complete, even when a book is open in from of their eyes, the Blackberry on their hands and the Ipod is pumping the bits in the ears, people still go to sleep.
Good night Chicago, we’re glad you’re riding the CTA!
posted by Andy at 9:18 PM
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