i left work after my 7am-3pm shift (which had seemed much longer than normal) after getting told that a customer had called in to complain saying that i "moved slowly" while ringing up his order, and headed (in the cold misty rainsnow) downtown on the L (the brown line) to meet up with my personal trainer/kevin's friend George at 4pm, whereupon he almost killed me with a workout that will, no doubt, make it very difficult for me to walk tomorrow.
then, i walked over to daley plaza (in the cold misty rainsnow) to the german market (where kevin and i bought our treetop spire a couple weeks ago) and floundered through the mass of beer-laden, bratwurst-stuffed, soft-pretzel-lugging, chocolate-covered-everything-indulging people to find a few presents for some unnamed people that i may or may not know, bought said presents, and headed towards the L once again (this time taking the red, on state street).
i lumbered down the stairs, through the gate, down more stairs (on my wiggly-post-work-out-legs) and ended up on the teeming rush hour platform.
there, i waited.
and waited.
finally, a train came. and it was overflowing. and i, along with most of the people crowded around me, could not fit inside. inside, where i saw two girls standing next to two open seats...the guy next to me saw them, too, and rapped on the window "move over!" and pointed at the free seats, to which the standing girls replied "there's stuff on the floor." i peered in to get a glimpse at this "stuff" and saw a couple newspapers. vomit/blood/urine/dead animal-free newspapers. and, to the standing girls i thought, "there is no law about putting your feet on old newspapers. old newspapers are not the original copy of the declaration of independence." and then the doors closed. goodbye train.
and, there, i waited.
and then, it happened.
there was an announcement over the loud speakers. an announcement about the next north-bound train. the next north-bound train was not going to be an ordinary train. it was going to be. . . . .
The. Holiday. Train.
so, this is what i rode home on:
and this guy was there announcing the next stop, instead of the normal PA-drone:
and when i stepped inside, i was met with smiles and a free candy cane and this general merriment:
and, thus. the best day ever. oh holiday train, how i love thee.
