I don’t usually say this, but: FAIL.
My goals for this morning’s commute were:
1) Be on time.
2) Don’t get sweaty/shiny/frizzy.
So. First, I had to wait for about 10 minutes at the sweltering Franklin Ave stop for the dumb 5 train. Cue the beginnings of sweat. Finally got on the train, managed to get a seat, cooled down. Then the train spent about five minutes sitting at each stop. At Bowling Green, the driver informed us that there was a police investigation at 14th Street, and we’d have to sit there (with the doors open) until it was wrapped up. Ok… I just sat back and kept reading. A few minutes later, I started smelling smoke. Then tons of people started running by. Then people started yelling “Fire!”
WHAT.
When you smell smoke and people are running and yelling “Fire!”, you don’t stop and think. You grab your shit and GO. So I went. Ran my ass off to get out of there (pausing for only a moment to wonder why the hell some of the passengers were still refusing to evacuate - what?!?), walked through the financial district to a less-crowded place and grabbed a cab. A hot, sticky, broken-AC cab.
Finally arrived at work at 10 a.m., one hour late, sweaty, shiny and frizzy. But, well… alive!
UPDATE: To make this more journalismy, here’s a news story all about it.
