Connections

I love taking the MBTA (i.e. Boston's transit system)! I know, one of my employment recruiters said the same thing, "huh?" Well it's true. Especially when my jaunts involve going downtown. It's also one of the easiest way to get fresh air and exercise in the city.

What I enjoy most is the connections people make or the ones we are privy to, when we do take public transit. The other day, I made a trip down to Copley Square. The first leg of my trip was a bus ride which would lead to a connection to the subway.

On the bus, a woman looking to be in her mid-fifties, got on and immediately began blaring to the driver about what sounded like a retelling of another driver who wouldn't stop when a passenger was between stops.

Then from my initial subway ride on the Orange Line, I had to switch to the Green Line. When I boarded, two women about mid-to-late-twenties were dissecting the occupational virtues of (what sounded like) a subordinate of the woman doing most of the talking. She sounded fair in saying that while her subordinate was the nicest person in the world, she could improve her organizational skill and reduce her interoffice banter, to become a more effective worker.

On the ride home, I took the Green Line to the Red Line this time. Since it was the beginning of rush hour in Boston, my initial bus wouldn't serve so well on the return trip. In my Green Line car were a group of high school boys, all fifteen and sixteen. I know because that's what they discussed for my part of the ride. Everyone thought the tallest boy was sixteen and a junior. It turned out he was fifteen and a sophomore. The chucked it up to his maturity and who he hung out with at school.

Finally my Red Line ride led me to the bus connection home. On the bus ride home, a young woman looking early-to-mid-twenties, was almost knocked out cold by a guy with a large messenger bag. Luckily, only her glasses were rendered askew. The guy apologized as he disembarked. Once the bus resumed moving, the construction worker across from her joked that it happened to him all the time at work. They then transitioned into a friendly conversation about prospective home ownership in spite of the economic recession.