Friday, Part 1

So! My Wednesdays were open, and since I get some loony stories in my car-free state, I decided to start Without-a-Car Wednesdays. ("Car-Free Wednesday" is shorter, but lacks that alliteration that I'm so fond of.) Plus, I'm saving them all up for a memoir, so this is also writing practise.

I volunteer for Bike Texas on Friday afternoons; the office is 1/4 mile from the nearest train station and the timing is great for finishing up around 5 PM. So last Friday, I thought I'd be clever and take the train (with my bike) one stop, then hop on the bike path that would take me the rest of the way home. Problem #1: I didn't think about it being rush hour. Problem #2: There are thousands of tourists in town for South by Southwest. Problem #3: My bike is pretty tall already (being a road bike), and the addition of the panniers makes it tall and wide, and therefore not amenable to cramped spaces. So I got on the already-full train, a bunch of people got on after me, and I realised pretty quickly that getting off again was going to be an issue.

When we got to my stop, I started rolling toward the exit, where even more people were piling on. There was no fighting the tide without injuring people (and possibly me), so I gave it up and decided to stay on for another stop. The passengers around me had a bit of a chuckle before advising me that being polite wasn't going to get me anywhere. Well, anywhere except all the way to the end of the line if I refused to push my way through to the exit.

The next stop, more people got off, fewer got on, and I wrangled the bike off with many "excuse me"s and "sorry about that"s to people who I accidentally jabbed with my handlebars. Bet they were glad to see me leave. Then I called Chad to let him know that I was going to be later than expected, only for him to tell me he was on his way to Toastmasters. That's fine, I said; I'll get back on the train (!) and go one more stop, then meet him a the Toastmaster meeting. Guess I should have called him before getting off the train. Sigh...

I went back to the platform, saw the next train was due in an hour, but the one going back into town was coming in 10 minutes. No problem; I'd go back downtown and get a bus.

To be continued...

I'm not the only polite person on the planet, so... share your too-polite-in-public stories!