My love affair with MUNI has ended...

For those of you who don't take public transportation, just so you are aware, during rush hour times, the trains can get insanely packed. You look like sardines crammed into a metal tube. And people still manage to keep forcing their way on. I don't like to ride the trains when they are like that. And will wait until after evening rush hour ends to go home for the day, or will wait for multiple trains to go by before hopping one in the morning. Obviously I don't care about when I actually arrive at the office - I'm here until 6:15 pm every night anyway.

So yesterday, I was coming down the hill from our apartment to Cole Valley. I could see a train at my stop and about 3 billion people cramming onto it. I could also see over the hill behind the train stop (b/c of my position) and could see another train waiting. SCORE! That means that everyone will get on the train currently at the stop, and I'll have a nice free train to ride to work. So I'm all giddy, go skipping down the street, thinking "Yay! What a great way to start the week!".

I hop on the 'empty' train and pay my fare, take my transfer. The entire time I'm doing this I'm aware that the train is WAYYYYY noisier than normal, but it doesn't really register. I turn around, transfer in 1 hand, purse in the other, and am confronted by, no joke, about 35-40 screaming 1st graders and their teachers on a field trip. I kept thinking surely they were getting off the train soon, but nope, I rode with them all the way to my work stop (about 4 miles, 7 stops). And they screamed the entire time.

I was hating life yesterday b/c of this until yesterday evening. For those of you who don't regularly follow the news, a San Francisco family had gone missing somewhere in Oregon on their way back from Thanksgiving. They found the mom and her 2 kids at their car last night (stranded 9 days) - the dad had gone off looking for help 3 days ago and is still missing. Their dad literally works about 1/2 block from where I do on 2nd St. It hit home last night when I was walking back to my MUNI stop (silently cursing screaming 1st graders and hoping hoping hoping I had an empty train home), and I passed the office where he works and it was surrounded by news vans and reporters who were attending a news conference regarding the situation. It made me glad I'm in San Francisco to ride a train (even with kids) and here's wishing and hoping they find the dad soon.

In happier news, S lands for good in a little less than 2 weeks! This is good as Tigga is going nuts without a male presence in the house (and no Max doesn't count - he's too scared).

--K