in the company of strangers

the crazy good and bad of DC metro

[inthecompanyofstrangers]

people watching people

I am quickly learning that my need for pictures as evidential proof of the antics I see is directly opposite to my ability to take said pictures in a noninvasive or rude way. The more I see, the less able I am to take pictures.

So, does anyone else enjoy doing what I do every morning? Does anyone else people watch on the metro? If so, picture or not, I would LOVE to hear what other people experience during their time on the Metro.

Submit stories at [email protected]

Thanks! :)

[inthecompanyofstrangers]

Thanks to @GoRemy for this spot-on video about the perils of DC Metro...the lyrics are on his YouTube page, but I'll post my favorite lines below :)

"People say it's nothing doing but commuting is dope it's the only place where you can get the flu and groped"

then later...

"and the one thing on my mind that has surely got me torn is how can you have body odor at 8:30 in the morning?" and then... "We sent a man to the moon brought him back two weeks later apparently not as long as it takes to fix an escalator"

and finally...

"because I'm looking at this pole I'm not immune to catch a virus hearing some dude's earphones blast the tunes of Miley Cyrus"

[inthecompanyofstrangers]

he wears many hats

...literally.

There I was sitting on my orange line train, waiting for something crazy to happen. This past week it hasn't been as entertaining as usual, and I was missing my daily dose of crazy.

So, looking around, I started people watching. I noticed a young couple more occupied with themselves than the stop we were at, and as they snuggled and laughed and hugged, they missed their stops. I saw an older business man engrossed in his iPad, presumably reading the Post in an effort to be ahead at work with the newest story. I saw a woman in nurses scrubs passed out against the window, no doubt the long hours taking their toll. And then I saw a man, with an Indiana Jones-style hat on, looking around the train like I was.

(exactly like this)

Just another hat I thought, until I looked around the train for round two and when I got back to Indy, he was no longer wearing that hat, but a old-fashioned bright yellow rain cap, complete with the high-low brim.

Now, this caught my attention. Why was he changing hats? What inspired him to have so many with him that morning? Would he change it again?

Why yes, he would. Through the rest of my train ride in, he switched hats twice more. He went from the rain cap shown above, to a tattered Nationals ball cap...

...to a fedora worthy of Matt Bomer in the show White Collar:

I tried to catch his eye, but never succeeded, so the reasoning behind his multiple changes is still a mystery. Has anyone else seen this guy? He was probably mid-50s with a thick grey beard, wire frame glasses, around 5'10" and dressed casually. Let me know if you know him, or if you know why he has so many hats!

[inthecompanyofstrangers]

kids say the darndest things

I got into work a little later today and as a result my company in the Metro car shifted from businessmen and women to families with young kids and other late-arrivers like myself.

There was one family on my train with two young girls who were “riding the wave” of Metro and generally having a good time. The older of the two, about seven years old, turned to her mom and said, “I love going on this roller coaster, its so much better than the van. The van smells funny.”

As she said this, I was looking out the window at this:

where there was traffic on 66 East at 11:30 in the morning. And then I thought about what she said. Maybe it would do us all a little better to think of public transportation as a roller coaster that lets us do what we want on our commute (kindle, iPad, music, sleep, people-watch, etc.) instead of wasting gas and time stuck in traffic like this. Yes it smells funny from time to time, but overall, it’s really not that horrible.

So, this afternoon when I’m shoved between two inevitably smelly and disgruntled Metro riders, I will think about the little girl excited to be on the roller coaster called Metro and make an effort to share in the joy.

[inthecompanyofstrangers]

No more Orange Crush?

This morning something weird happened. The Orange line train I boarded at 8:05 was empty. Or nearly empty. Only five other people were on the entire car with me. The AC was working, we were going in the right direction, and still...empty. Could Rush+ be working? At least for the Orange line it seems maybe so...

[inthecompanyofstrangers]

spotted: future DC olympian?

5:35pm 08/21/12

A young man, wearing flip flops on his hands as makeshift gymnastic grips, made his way through the crowded metro train, maneuvering the poles and handles, until he "dismounted" at the other end of the train, and got off at the Court House station. DC's own Gabby-Douglas-wannabe definitely caught my attention...I'd give him a 8.567 for difficulty and a 9.832 for execution :)

(Example of gymnastic grips, photo credit: gymnastics.about.com)

[inthecompanyofstrangers]

"I don't know...let me mullet it over."

This guy was great. Around midnight on the Orange line towards Vienna, he struck up a conversation with us about 7" vinyls, and the greatness of Gigantor. Was the perfect cap to a great night of baseball (even though the Nats lost to the Mets) and music (Third Eye Blind concert post-game). He said, "Mullet-heads need to stick together. We just get each other, no explanation needed."

Photo credit: Rob Yeo

[inthecompanyofstrangers]

This one time, on Metro...

I've lived in Northern Virginia my whole life and Metro has always been a part of day-to-day life around here. It doesn't mean anyone likes it, and most of the time the only time you talk about Metro (or WMATA) is when something bad has happened (re: a train is derailed, there is no AC in your car, someone is talking too loud on their cell phone, etc.)

Well, for the past two summers Metro and I have become closer than ever. I have been commuting into and out of DC everyday via the Orange line and almost every day I come home with at least one unusual story about what happened on my travels.

I looked around online to see if anyone else was documenting their crazy Metro experiences, and to my surprise, the only ones I could find were on DCist.com where they occasionally report stories submitted by their readers and a few Twitter feeds dedicated to ranting about the pitfalls of public transportation.

So, after months of hilarious, sad and sometimes hopeful happenings on our Metro system, I've started this blog to keep track of everything out of the ordinary that I see on my day to day commute in and out of our nation's capital.

I hope people take advantage of the forum to add the crazy (good and bad) things that they have seen, experienced or done on the metro so we can enjoy, commiserate and share a commute that is mandatory for most of us.

If you have a story, picture, video, or quote about "one time on the metro..." I would love to read it and post it here!

Please send your Metro memories to [email protected]

Thanks :)

[inthecompanyofstrangers]

On the Metro to Rosslyn on Tuesday night:

A very matter-of-fact dad tells his 6yr old son that they need to transfer

Boy: "What's a transfer?"

Dad: "It's when you get off one train and get on another train that's going in a different direction."

Boy: "What's so bad about that?"

Dad: "It's a pain in the ass. Trust me."

-taken from dcist.com