• Home
  • About Feline Health
  • About the Lintee Bean
  • About the Chi Town Fur Gang
  • About those Loved and Lost

Life of the Lintee Bean

Tales of a flexitarian (semi-vegetarian)-eating animal-loving small-town girl turned big city big-mouth

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Pudgy progress!
Still tied up in knots »

Adventures in commuting

April 5, 2009 by Lynette

I take public transportation to and from work every day. I know many of you drive or even walk – where’s the fun in that? I take the el, or elevated train. Well, it’s not always elevated – sometimes it runs underground, which technically makes it a subway, but lots of cities have subways, that’s not very exciting – Chicago has an elevated train, though it’s not always elevated.

I walk nearly a mile to the blue line. I could drive part way, but I figure the exercise is good for me. I could drive all the way to work, but it would often take longer than the train and I don’t like sitting in traffic. Plus, paying over $100 per month for even the cheapest parking discourages me. Parking is over $20 per day in the lot closest to work. Then there would be the increase in my insurance rates – not worth it.

Riding the El is always an adventure. You get to see, hear, and smell all kinds of interesting people! One day last week I got to sit near someone who apparently was coughing up a hairball. I have cats. I know that sound. Another day I sat near someone who smelled overwhelmingly of fish.

To pass the time, many passengers (myself included) listen to music on their iPods or other personal music players. We’ll often read as well. I used to read a book or magazine until I took up crochet. Recently, I’ve been trying to crochet during my commute. It’s not easy – balancing my bag, yarn, and crocheting on my lap, and trying to crochet while keeping my elbows tucked in and with minimal hand movement. It may be part of why my finished objects aren’t particularly impressive.

They recently improved mobile phone service underground. Honestly, the improvement is something I would have gladly lived without. I don’t know why people find it necessary to talk loudly on their cell phones while riding the train. Do they forget that everyone can hear them, or do they just not care? Is the conversation really that important that they can’t wait until they get wherever they are going to have it? I know I don’t care to hear about what a jerk their boss is, or how their friend should leave their cheating boyfriend, or whatever other drama is going on in their life.

The adventure doesn’t end entirely once the train ride is over. Once we arrive, the hundreds of passengers exit and all try to leave the train station at the same time. This is particularly exciting now as the station I use is under construction and the only exit is one narrow stairway. So, hundreds of passengers are all ascending these stairs at the same time – like cattle in a chute led to slaughter, and often there happens to be other passengers wishing to descend the stairs to board the train. I walk through city hall, which also provides the fun of seeing “sandwich board guy” who protests something on the sidewalk outside city hall – wearing a cardboard crown, and sandwich board declaring something about Marx and heaven and shouting something understandable only to him.

submitted for publication in The Greeley Citizen

Share this:

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Print
  • More
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Life of the Lintee Bean | Tagged Chicago, commute, el | 1 Comment

One Response

  1. on April 6, 2009 at 10:16 am Pam Kelley

    Oh, there is no way I could live in the city! Just reading your description of what you go through every day makes me hyperventilate with anxiety. My drive to downtown Indianapolis takes about 30 minutes, and that is stressful enough. But to have to be near all those people, packed like sardines…. no way!



Comments are closed.

  • Categories

    • Canine nutrition and health
    • Canine training
    • Chi-Town Fur Gang
    • Feline nutrition and health
    • Human nutrition and health
    • Knot misbehaving
    • Life of the Lintee Bean
    • Noms
    • Uncategorized
  • Pages

    • About Feline Health
    • About the Lintee Bean
    • About the Chi Town Fur Gang
    • About those Loved and Lost
  • Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 492 other subscribers
  • Blogroll

    • WordPress.com
    • WordPress.org
  • Feline Health and Nutrition

    • Cat Nutrition
    • Cat Nutrition Blog
    • Diabetic Cat Care
    • Feeding Your Cat
    • Feline Diabetes
    • Feline Nutrition Education Society (FNES)
    • Feline Outreach
    • Parenting Fur Kids
    • Your Diabetic Cat
  • Lintee Bean Websites

    • Crazy cat lady blogging
    • Mousabilities
  • Archives

  • Recent Posts

    • Miss Minnie Mooch
    • Gnome-loving neighbors
    • The “I” in bigotry
    • Big Changes, They are Coming
    • All washed up
  • Top Posts

    • Miss Minnie Mooch
    • Gnome-loving neighbors
    • The "I" in bigotry
    • Big Changes, They are Coming
    • All washed up
  • Blog Stats

    • 176,339 pawprints (hits)
  • Meta

    • Register
    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.com
  • AAFCO Afer amino acids arthritis asthma cancer canned food cat cat food cat nutrition cats Chicago CRF crochet diabetes diarrhea diet Dixie dog dry food DSL duel exercise FaceBook FDA feeding cats feline nutrition fiber fitness Fitocracy FIV food food safety grief gym hockey homemade cat food hyperthyroidism IBD Internet Jellybean jewelry Kitty.com knit Latifah loss Louie making cat food movies MySpace NutriSystem nutrition obesity Omaha pancreatitis personal trainer pet food pilling productive push-ups Ralph raw food Rumpelmintz scarf spay and neuter stomatitis Studley Tigger trainer training travel vegetarian weight weight loss yarn
  • April 2009
    S M T W T F S
     1234
    567891011
    12131415161718
    19202122232425
    2627282930  
    « Mar   May »
  • Twitter Updates

    Error: Twitter did not respond. Please wait a few minutes and refresh this page.

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


  • Follow Following
    • Life of the Lintee Bean
    • Join 49 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Life of the Lintee Bean
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
%d bloggers like this: