This morning, at around 10 a.m., I stood at a bus stop, 30 minutes into the morning’s snow-filled commute. A fellow rider huddled next to me in the bus shelter remarked that the snow was pretty. “Yeah,” I replied, “but why did this have to happen in March!”
“Because March is fucked up,” he said. “You ever notice how when you meet a woman born in March, she’s all fucked up? March is a mess.”
I don’t know about that guy’s theory, nor do I know what the next 29 days of March ’09 will bring, but this particular day in March was indeed a mess. Although the amount of snow on the ground didn’t seem all that scary when I assessed it from my window this morning, it took me more than two hours to get to work today, thanks to all of the snow on the ground. Ridiculous.
I did see and hear some interesting things along the way. While walking around the Pentagon, headed for the train, I noticed that the army guys were all wearing their winter fatigues. Who knew they broke those out for just a few inches of snow. I thought they reserved that gear for missions in Siberia or something. And, while I was on Connecticut Avenue, I heard a little boy tell his Mom that he hoped they’d have fun in the snow today because she was “cranky already.”
Still, two hours from Alexandria-to-Adams Morgan is excessive. Here’s the breakdown of my Del Ray-to-Adams Morgan commute:
*15 minutes to walk from my house to the bus stop, since the sidewalks weren’t shoveled
*20 minutes of waiting at the bus stop
*15 minute ride from Arlandria to the Pentagon
*10 minutes of walking around the Pentagon trying for figure out where in the hell they hide the Metro (OK, this bit is my fault)
*15 minutes of waiting for the Yellow line train
*10 more minutes of waiting for the Blue line train after I realized there were delays on the Yellow line, and I needed a Blue train (Fine, fine—this part is probably my fault, too)
*12 minute ride from Pentagon to Metro Center
*5 minute wait for the Red Line to Shady Grove
*5 minute ride from Metro Center to Woodley Park
*15 minute walk from Woodley Park to office door, again on sidewalks badly in need of shoveling.
How was your commute this morning? Can you top 122 minutes?