Worse Than I Hoped

So I set off from work on the bus, in theory, to Wall Street for an attempt on a one stop ride from Wall Street to Clark Street. However, for reasons unknown the bus' final stop was City Hall. Not the end of the world as their is a subway station there that I can take home too -- Park Place to Fulton Street to Wall Street to Clark Street. The same subway station I entered yesterday. Like yesterday I entered the subway station and waited on the platform for a train to arrive. Unlike yesterday no train arrived. Instead, THREE subways heading the wrong way (uptown) came and went with no sign of a downtown train. After the third train I decided to abandon the subway experiment, at least for another day, and grab a cab.

I headed back to the street and flagged down a cabbie. I got in and told the driver where I wanted to go but he asked me to wait one second while he closed his trunk. Not sure what was going on but apparently his trunk was broken. After he slammed it shut five or six times (only to have it pop back open) he informed me that, unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to take me with an open trunk. Not a big deal I thought - there are plenty of other cabs.

I got out of that cab and quickly flagged down another one. I told the driver where I needed to go, "just across the Brooklyn Bridge.." The cabbie responded "the bridge is bad.." at which point a pang of panic radiated through my body. "We can take the Manhattan Bridge" I suggested to the driver. "No.. its too far.." was his reply. At this point I whipped out my Android phone and pulled up Google Maps which thankfully has traffic info. Normally, traffic conditions are one of three colors - green for moving well, yellow for some delays and red for long delays. Well, the "color" for the Brooklyn Bridge was BLACK with red dots. Definitely not a good sign! At this point I informed the cab driver of the scary traffic prognosis on Google Maps and directed him to take me across the Manhattan Bridge. He agreed but we were almost immediately in a traffic jam. Presumably we weren't the only ones thinking the Manhattan Bridge was a better route.Trigger full blown panic.

I quickly swallowed down a Klonopin and called my wife at home. Ring.. ring.. ring.. voice mail. Shit.. Try the cell.. Ring.. ring .. "hello?".. "its me.. ".. "I'm on a call.." ummm "ok.. call me back".. tick.. tick.. heart racing.. breathe.. who can I call? Mom! Ring.. ring.. "hello?" "Hey Mom.. its me.. I'm in the back of a cab in a traffic jam"

Fortunately, Mom is not in the middle of anything and so I end up speaking with her from traffic jam to the Manhattan Bridge and across it. Once we got on the bridge the traffic was moving fine. When we finally got across the bridge the driver needed some guidance so I said goodbye to my mother and directed the cabby on how to get me home. I should not that during my conversation with my mother my wife did call back.

So I did get home without any major breakdown.. but instead of a $2.25 subway ride or a $9.00 cab ride the cab ended up costing $19 with the sitting in traffic and the extra distance. Not exactly the most cost effective way to travel a relatively short distance.

Tomorrow's another day.. and hopefully the bus will actually go to Wall Street this time!

I also enjoy an occasional cigar and I recently purchase a box of 20 cigars on special for $35 but also treated myself to my favorite (but very expensive) cigars.. a 5 pack of Ashton Aged Maduro's at $10 per cigar..

I told my wife that I wouldn't smoke one of those special cigars until I made the round trip to and from work on the subway on my own.  So now, in addition to the therapist recommend "achievable goals" I'll have a nice cigar waiting for me when I finally get myself pulled together enough to ride the subway/