Monday, July 26, 2004
DNC Day One - The Return
The Guyfriend and I exited work today around 3:00, and kept our eyes open for anything out of the ordinary happening on or around the T. Not much at first. We could still see a few Falung Gong members in Copley at the other end of the block. There were a few extra cops in Back Bay Station. No one checking bags or anything else.
The first sign was that the train was sitting at each station for a few extra minutes, rather than just disgorging passengers, taking on more and whipping away down the tracks as those who didn't pay attention to the warning bells and therefore didn't get into a train car stand on the platform and make all kinds of disgusted faces and hand gestures. When we pulled into Haymarket, the last stop before the now-bypassed North Station/Fleet Center, some passengers got off, others got on, and the announcement came that we would be boarded by transit police and all bags would be searched. It went quite smoothly. One officer boarded each car and worked up the aisle, poking into each bag. Everyone had their bags ready, and it only took a minute for most cars. We could see each officer emerging back onto the platform to give the thumbs up to the driver. Apparently whoever was taking Car 5 was slower than the rest for some reason. More bags, slower technique, stopping to chat - who knows? But we were back on our way in short order.
Two of the passengers who detrained at Haymarket were DNC delegates. They were a quite youthful (we guessed recent college grads) man and woman, and they looked quite excited at their upcoming role in national politics. They had all their various passes, lanyards and shiny, shiny gold name tags in place for inspection at any and all security stations. They also almost missed their stop. But fear not, they realized it at the last minute and jumped off. The DNC may commence!
TOMORROW: Because of the scheduled tv pickup tomorrow, I'll be driving in and driving home early, mostly on back roads. Hopefully I won't have any horror road tales to tell as a result.
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The first sign was that the train was sitting at each station for a few extra minutes, rather than just disgorging passengers, taking on more and whipping away down the tracks as those who didn't pay attention to the warning bells and therefore didn't get into a train car stand on the platform and make all kinds of disgusted faces and hand gestures. When we pulled into Haymarket, the last stop before the now-bypassed North Station/Fleet Center, some passengers got off, others got on, and the announcement came that we would be boarded by transit police and all bags would be searched. It went quite smoothly. One officer boarded each car and worked up the aisle, poking into each bag. Everyone had their bags ready, and it only took a minute for most cars. We could see each officer emerging back onto the platform to give the thumbs up to the driver. Apparently whoever was taking Car 5 was slower than the rest for some reason. More bags, slower technique, stopping to chat - who knows? But we were back on our way in short order.
Two of the passengers who detrained at Haymarket were DNC delegates. They were a quite youthful (we guessed recent college grads) man and woman, and they looked quite excited at their upcoming role in national politics. They had all their various passes, lanyards and shiny, shiny gold name tags in place for inspection at any and all security stations. They also almost missed their stop. But fear not, they realized it at the last minute and jumped off. The DNC may commence!
TOMORROW: Because of the scheduled tv pickup tomorrow, I'll be driving in and driving home early, mostly on back roads. Hopefully I won't have any horror road tales to tell as a result.
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Posted by Rogueslayer at 5:16 PM 
