On the Metro

A couple of interesting things have happened to me on the Metro this week.

Monday a friend and I were going to a Nationals game (they actually won). We took the Metro down there. At the Waterfront stop we ran into a small problem. The doors would not close properly. The doors opened and closed and opened and closed. The conductor came on and said that he would have to off load the train unless the doors closed. The cars were of course full of people going to the game.

It seemed that we were going to be off loaded. There was a Metro employee who came into out car. He was checking the doors. He told the conductor to try and close the doors again. Still no luck. The guy in our car stepped out onto the platform and told the conductor to close the doors again. This didn’t seem to work either.

The conductor said he had to off load the train. But the employee in our car kept working. He determined the door that wasn’t closing properly was the not the one facing the platform but the one that was staying closed at this stop. Someone had gotten something stuck in it. Once that was removed the doors were OK. This guy talked into his walkie-talkie to central control not to off load the train. So shortly after this the conductor came on and said for everyone to get back on the train and off we headed to the game.

The other happened on the way to work on Tuesday. I got a seat near the doors. At Union Station a guy gets on. He stays near the doors. I look up and see his reflection in the glass of the door across from us. He’s dressed nicely. A dress shirt and dress slacks. Then I notice that he has nothing on his feet. And I mean nothing. He has no socks or shoes, no sandals or flip flops or anything else. He is in his bare feet. I almost asked the guy sitting next to me to take a look and tell me if I was right but I resisted the temptation.

And that’s been my Metro experience lately.