The Long Way Home

Monday, July 31, 2006

I spent a lovely weekend on Block Island (home of the BI sticker) with my mother and friends. It was a great trip except for when it came time to leave, which is always difficult to begin with, but add in a broken ferry motor, Amtrak and a few other bumps, then it can be down right miserable.

The plan seemed simple, I'd take the 4:10 high speed ferry to New London, CT and wait at the station for a half hour until the 6:18 train to Penn Station and arrive home around 9:30. Easy enough. However, the ferry hit a lobster pot and was running on one engine making it  the slowest high speed ferry that I've ever been on. They still promised all the  riders on board who were taking the connecting train that we'd be there by 6:05 giving us a 10 minute window that would be just enough for us to catch it. The doors opened at 6:18 though just in time for all of us to watch the train leave.  I was like, ok I'll read my book and get the next train at 8:16 train. I should have wiped the fairy dust out of my eyes, because that wasn't happening either. All the trains to New York that day were sold out.

Everyone then waited in a long line to at least take the 8:16 train to New Haven so then we could switch to Metro North (always more reliable) and arrive at Grand Central. OK I'll do that then. Again, I was thinking to optimistically. Literally the person in front of me at the ticket window got the last seat to New Haven. Now stranded in New London, I started talking with two others about getting a taxi to New Haven ($98) to then catch a local 9:16 train on Metro North ($19).

Here comes the eerie Identity part. The girl who was calling the taxi and who I was planning to ride with then introduces herself and goes "Hi, my name is Tara by the way." I go um, so is mine. Then just a few feet away from us we hear another woman introduce herself to another stranded passenger and go "my name is Tara." We shouted over, "three Tara's???" How is that possible? It's hardly that common of a name. I could hear in my mind The Twilight Zone announcer speaking in that monologue part saying "a group of passengers, stranded, all trying to get back to New York only to discover they had more in common then they thought, do do do (Twilight Zone theme)." Sorry, I was tired and hungry remember and at the verge of laughing or crying, but I just couldn't figure out which so instead I daydreamed and pictured I was in a black and white episode.

So Tara, Sam (that's was the guys name) and I waited for another 20 minutes before a car arrived. We were making good time though but not enough to make the 7:57 express :( Along the way I discovered that Sam and I went to the same high school, but 10 years apart and that Ralph our driver liked braking at the last possible second.

So anyway to make an already long journey short, I had Subway at the New Haven station, chatted with my new found friends until the non air-conditioned train came and brought us into the City at 10:59. At that point I figured, why not just continue to blow my money and I hailed a cab to my apt, which ironically was playing "Took the long way home" on the car radio. I started laughing til a tear dropped.

Video: Check out this New England white rap it's too funny, Tea Partay Yo

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