Melançon Enterprises • a multidivision multinational since 1980

Losing luggage in Brooklyn and working the public transport possibilities.

After a really fantastic dinner with Cathy, Stacey, Brian, Manda, and Rich (at the Samba steakhouse and sushi in Framingham)
since it was while walking all over Brooklyn and New York last weekend that her foot sustained what is probably a stress fracture.

Got some basic advice too: (tie shoes, good not to button the top button but button all the way to the top button... thanks Rich!)

I just barely arrived at the train station in Natick with my flashlight to wave the train down at 1:17 a.m. (only stops to discharge or if there's someone visible on the platform... in the dark). It was five minutes late, and I thought it had been early and I'd missed it. I was screaming goddamn into the night.

This train was scheduled to arrive at South Station at 1:54 and the Chinatown bus had one leaving at 2 a.m. and that's it (Lucky Star, though Sunshine also had a 2 a.m. on its schedule). I got off the train and jumped on my bike and biked to the bus station building, and then through the bus terminal part once I was up all the stairs.

Bought my $25 ticket cash, threw my bike into the luggage area under the bus, and was on Christie Ave in NYC's Chinatown by 5:30 a.m. In the meantime I got some work done; talked to my seatmate about middleware, integrating disparate systems, which is what he does, and Drupal, which is what I do; and slept.

I found some internet (and covered sections of sidewalk) to look up grocery stores in the area, and found Jubilee, open 24 hours, a mile away. Having a bike rocks in New York, at least during off-hours. Bought a bunch of stuff to make G a Mediterranean couscous breakfast and miscellaneous other things at this crazy Trader Joe's meets Chinese grocery meets small supermarket store. (Foreshadowing note: I left both my bags beside a register island while I wandered the store looking for ingredients. A worker was pulling it together to put it in a safe place when I showed up buy the groceries.)

With a couple false starts (subway entrances closed for Sunday, and then others with only the vertical turnstyles through which bicycles do not fit) I got on the subway and made my way to Bedford Ave in Williamsburg and biked down it around 8 a.m. in the morning.

While I waited for G to wake up and get my text message, I worked on the computer under the glass awning. Around 9:40 a.m. I used the bathroom at the store next door (and bought some stuff, and I'm glad they're cool at La Famosa, even if the organic on the sign is just put there to fit in with Williamsburg). My bag of good clothes for the visit and great shoes was gone, and $60 worth of groceries. All critical things (meaning the laptop) were with me in the backpack that has the wallet, though. I'd even forgotten to pack my razor, and thankfully I'd decided not to take the camera.

I needed this wakeup call. I've gotten away with leaving my stuff unattended in bus and train stations across the country, at UMass, everywhere. Something bad had to happen to me to knock in some common sense, and this is it.

But yeah, it's all very much in the 'replaceable with money' category. Except the part about being able to make Genevieve breakfast.

What a creepy, loser thing to steal. You take someone's money, hell their car, and maybe you can make an argument that you're redistributing a little wealth guerrilla style, though you're still a creep. But an obvious clothes bag and food? That has so much more value to the person who picked them out than to you, whoever you are. Seriously, your karma's screwed.

Still, I hope whoever took it can appreciate Fair Trade Organic Whole Quinoa and such.... and wears my shoe size.

For the trip back I missed all the Chinatown buses that could possibly get me into Boston in time for the latest outbound for Framingham/Worcester train (11 p.m.), so plan B is the Greyhound/PeterPan 10:30 p.m. departure for Framingham and Boston. With the online tickets to Boston (risky, since they could bounce me to a Boston-only train) it's $23, including the ridiculous $3 online "convenience" fee. For an e-ticket you have to print?

I left much later than I should have to catch it, made great time on the bus to the station though, but then the L-line subway didn't leave for a while.

And stopped several avenues short and said "good luck folks, take the bus"

(I suppose I can't complain since I think I was out of subway tickets, but as I had to go through the emergency gate anyway to fit the bike in, a guy was kind enough to pop it for me.)

But I said goodby to the MTA and biked to Port Authority bus terminal, with a wrong start both East-West and then North-South (fortunately you only have to go one block to see the numbers headed the wrong way). Fourteenth street up to forty-second is a ways, but I made it with five minutes to go by bike, got a little discombobulated entering the station from that angle (there are no signs explaining that the lower gate numbers are down below the subway level, but fortunately there is a map) and got in the line for the bus just as it started to load.

And then got told that the bike could not go on, it had to be boxed.

I read that part of the instructions online three times and it was never clear if bikes were specifically excluded or included in this requirement. Now I know.

And that I would have to get a box from baggage upstairs. And there wasn't time to get on the bus after that, so I could take the 12:30 (which of course would not stop in Framingham).

I went angrily upstairs, waited in line at the ticket place, and they said baggage was next door.

Baggage said they had no boxes, to wait for the new supervisor to come on at midnight (I never did get exactly how to *find* the supervisor, I think I was supposed to ask at information) and have the supervisor instruct the driver that there were no boxes and to work something out.

I booked it downstairs and my bus hadn't left yet.

I went right out next to it, popped the front wheel off the bike, and begged. Told the driver what baggage had said about boxes and supervisors. There was a basically empty compartment to put the bike in, so their fairly valid point about damage to other people's goods was mooted. Bless that driver. I do wish I'd gotten my five dollars out in time to tip him after getting off in Framingham.

Biked home and was in bed and on the laptop again before 3 a.m. It's not a short distance from the Framingham Logan Express bus stop to home no matter how you travel it. I thought I'd walked the long way last week but mostly it's just a long way.

And man am i tired.

(The visit itself and other lessons in the art of living will not be in this journal entry. Sorry, it's not just my life here.)