The MBTA remains a joke (Day 38)

I had made an appointment to see a friend today in Back Bay, and later in the day I wanted to meet my son and husband in Brookline. Great, I thought yesterday, I'll just get on the C-Line (a section of the Green Line). Then, because I have learned something living here all this time, I checked a trip itinerary, and, oh yeah, I would actually need to take a shuttle to get there. But no worries, since both my point of origin and my destination were very close to the pick up/drop off spots.

Apparently I haven't lived here long enough, because the ride took so long that I was almost moved to tears (and the fact that my husband misinterpreted our meeting time meant that I was, in a way, that much later). Given the time I waited for the shuttle to "fill", and the amount of time the trip took, if I had walked I wouldn't have missed too much time.

I have no idea what is causing the MBTA shutdowns of the Green Line this time--something about track work through March 8--but it is ALWAYS something, and the improvements have been negligible. Which is insane at a time when lanes are being changed in order to make it more difficult for cars to drive through (and I would still lose my mind if one of my children were going to bike through the main streets of Boston). I love public transportation, but Boston and Massachusetts need to stop acting like they can wish a good system into existence--or repair the one we have now into something that is usable and reliable. We have to start from scratch, and the sooner we do so, the better.

Deb in the City

It looks different at night (Day 7)

Yesterday, I did something I don't do often: I had a cup of tea and later a (vegan, gluten-free) cookie. Thus, at 4:30 PM, after working out at home, I was still really energetic, and decided that I wanted--needed--a walk outside.

(I take that back: on Tuesday I had the same cookie as well as some matcha, but I also had a very long walk that day as well. There is a pattern!)

I didn't have a plan when I started except that I needed to be in my favorite bit of Boston's greenspace while I still had the light. But after I passed through it, my body just wanted to keep going. And so I did for the next 90 minutes, as I lost all the light. Eventually, I got tired, but I kept powering through until I got to a train station (amazingly, the Orange Line of the MBTA still works, though not every line in the system can make that claim).

I grew up in a bunch of places, particularly Cambridge, but I spent a lot of my time before, during, and after college on Huntington Avenue. It's always bittersweet traveling down that street, no matter how often I do it, taking note of what has changed and what has stayed the same. Some changes I approve of, some I mourn (and others I anticipate). 

I consider myself fortunate to have been able to have contemplated them last night on a heady walk, and then fortunate that I had a home in the present to go back to. My relative good fortune was driven home when I got to the train and someone asked to get in on my ticket. I didn't have a chance to say yes--which I was going to--before one of the MBTA attendants came out of their booth to scold the person who had asked me that they should have asked her instead. She let him and two other people who couldn't afford $2.40 for the privilege of riding a decrepit "public" transportation system. (Imagine not wanting to ask someone like that for help.) Maybe those people had a warm home with people who were happy to see them when they arrived, and maybe they also enjoyed a hot drink there as well, but home should shelter us from the elements, not the callousness of other people.

Deb in the City