Catastrophes and laughter
Mar. 18th, 2004 05:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xaaraI had possibly the worst morning in recorded history.
I hadn't finished my homework the night before and had to finish it this morning, which made me slightly late getting out of the house. But because I always try to aim to leave early, this shouldn't have been a problem. It was.
My brother, father, and I arrived at Van Ness Metro station to find everyone and his brother migrating south along Connecticut Avenue. Some sort of fire had caught in the Metro near Van Ness and the officials had evacuated the red line from Tenleytown to Dupont Circle. So there we were, in the swearing mass of literally hundreds of hopelessly stranded people, at Connecticut and Van Ness, which is about four blocks from our house.
The bus stations all along Connecticut were crammed full of people so we walked the six or so blocks across Van Ness to Wisconsin Avenue to catch a bus there. But because the people from the Metro station north of ours were also not allowed on the train, those buses were full as well - none of them even stopped for us. Finally, a woman in a minivan pulled over, yelled out the window that she was driving to Dupont Circle and would we like a ride? My brother, father, and I immediately took her up on the offer, as did a young Watergate intern and a man who worked at the Department of Agriculture. We piled in, softball gear, baseball gear, school supplies, briefcases, cell phones, heavy winter coats and all. It was 0900 - we had already missed the first fifteen minutes of first period.
The drive to Dupont Circle, which normally takes fifteen minutes at absolute maximum, took half an hour, by which time we had missed three-quarters of first period and were still more than a mile away from our school. We had to walk the rest of the way, which took another twenty minutes at a brisk pace, and so we arrived ten minutes into second period.
My second period, of course, was gym, which meant that I had to check in with my teacher, turn around, and walk over a mile again to the YMCA that my school uses to work out. After my workout, I had to retrace that mile back to school. Arriving at school, I reached into my backpack...only to discover that I had forgotten my lunch at home. So I had to sprint to a nearby Subway to buy a sandwich before the sports advisory council meeting at lunch.
But then one of my best guy friends showed up at the meeting (for once), and we laughed at a mutual friend who spilled salad dressing all over his pants, and all was well with the world again. At least until Physics...
I hadn't finished my homework the night before and had to finish it this morning, which made me slightly late getting out of the house. But because I always try to aim to leave early, this shouldn't have been a problem. It was.
My brother, father, and I arrived at Van Ness Metro station to find everyone and his brother migrating south along Connecticut Avenue. Some sort of fire had caught in the Metro near Van Ness and the officials had evacuated the red line from Tenleytown to Dupont Circle. So there we were, in the swearing mass of literally hundreds of hopelessly stranded people, at Connecticut and Van Ness, which is about four blocks from our house.
The bus stations all along Connecticut were crammed full of people so we walked the six or so blocks across Van Ness to Wisconsin Avenue to catch a bus there. But because the people from the Metro station north of ours were also not allowed on the train, those buses were full as well - none of them even stopped for us. Finally, a woman in a minivan pulled over, yelled out the window that she was driving to Dupont Circle and would we like a ride? My brother, father, and I immediately took her up on the offer, as did a young Watergate intern and a man who worked at the Department of Agriculture. We piled in, softball gear, baseball gear, school supplies, briefcases, cell phones, heavy winter coats and all. It was 0900 - we had already missed the first fifteen minutes of first period.
The drive to Dupont Circle, which normally takes fifteen minutes at absolute maximum, took half an hour, by which time we had missed three-quarters of first period and were still more than a mile away from our school. We had to walk the rest of the way, which took another twenty minutes at a brisk pace, and so we arrived ten minutes into second period.
My second period, of course, was gym, which meant that I had to check in with my teacher, turn around, and walk over a mile again to the YMCA that my school uses to work out. After my workout, I had to retrace that mile back to school. Arriving at school, I reached into my backpack...only to discover that I had forgotten my lunch at home. So I had to sprint to a nearby Subway to buy a sandwich before the sports advisory council meeting at lunch.
But then one of my best guy friends showed up at the meeting (for once), and we laughed at a mutual friend who spilled salad dressing all over his pants, and all was well with the world again. At least until Physics...
