Jeff and I truly had the subway ride from hell last night. We were headed to Altantic Avenue in Brooklyn to meet Dan for a quick dinner before going to a birthday party for Jeff’s friend Peter. We walked down to Wall St. to catch the 2/3 and found a train waiting at the platform. The train, however, never left the platform.

After waiting 10 or 15 minutes, the conductor stopped promising us we’d be moving soon and suggested we seek alternate routes. We walked over to the Wall St. 4/5 station and found that those trains weren’t running because of weekend construction. After phoning Dan to tell him we were running late, we walked over to the Rector St. N/R station and waited ages for an R train. At DeKalb, we transfered to the Q train to go one more stop to Atlantic Avenue. Color us suprised when the conductor announced (after the doors closed) that our next stop would be 7th Avenue. Our train sailed right through Atlantic Avenue without stopping.

At 7th Avenue, we searched around for a MTA Service Advisory sign but couldn’t find any explanation for why we hadn’t stopped at Atlantic Avenue. Next, we went to the Manhattan-bound platform where inexplicably a J train pulled up (I still can’t find any connecting tracks on the map to explain how it got there). After the doors closed, the conductor announced we wouldn’t be stopping at Atlantic Avenue because of an on-going police investigation (which I haven’t been able to find any news of online). As we went slowly inched through Atlantic Avenue without stopping, policemen on the platform (who we hadn’t noticed on our previous fly-by) peered into the cars.

We got off at DeKalb and called Dan to cancel our dinner plans (sorry!) and then realized we need to get back on the Q and go to 7th Avenue again to get to the party. We got on a train and realized seconds before the doors closed that we were on a Manhattan-bound Q train by mistake (which would have taken us directly to Canal Street over the Manhattan Bridge without stopping). We got off and caught a Q train in the correct direction. By this point, the police investigation at Atlantic Avenue was over and, to add insult to injury, our train stopped there before heading to 7th Avenue.

After spending an hour navigating the subway, I had turned into quite the little drama queen. I was starving and didn’t want to drink at the party on an empty stomach. Jeff and I walked around in circles looking for his friend’s apartment and a place to grab a quick bite. We ended up splitting a plain, untoasted bagel from a bodega.

The party ended up being pretty enjoyable, if a tad crowded. I hate going to parties as a +1, because I’m so shy about chatting strangers up. I always feel like I’m barging in on people’s conversations if I try to talk to anyone. If I hadn’t started dating Jeff, I’d still be single and wall-flowering it next to the chip table.

Tags: subway |