Not quite the day after

Evidently large swathes of the DMV area remained under 30 inches of snow yesterday, so the Federal government remained closed. Metro only ran limited service of three lines on the underground portions, so instead of, for instance the Orange Line running from Vienna, Va., to New Carrolton, Md., it went from Ballston, Va., to Eastern Market in the District.

Since my commute was within those parameters, I went in to work, but I was apparently the only one, aside from the building guard. My employer follows the Feds, so the office was officially closed.

Frankly, I went in because I had an appointment in the afternoon with a physical therapy practice, which I very much need. (On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being “shoot me”, I’ve been looking at 9.0 in the receding distance of my rear-view mirror for more than a month.) This appointment was the earliest I could get as of two weeks ago, so I needed it.

But of course they closed their office, too. I hope to God I don’t have to wait another two weeks, because I’ll just commit ritual seppuku in their entry way if so.

Anyhow, if Friday was a bit of a ghost town at work, yesterday I may have had the building to myself. I certainly was the only one on my floor. That’s kind of spooky, especially if you know it’s “regular” work hours, and not—say—2200 on a Saturday.

Well, a couple of things about yesterday:

This was my view on the way to the station; nice, no?

Metro’s limited service was free, so it was worth riding just for that alone. I made a point of entering through the exit styles—that was me raging against the Man.

It was a bit of a crapshoot, because at least in the morning they were running on a single track between stations. Here’s a very, very, very long train “sheltering in place” at the Capitol South station at 0730:

It was a bit of an adventure crossing streets in downtown D.C. They’d only cut pathways through the banked snow along the east-west crosswalks, not the north-south ones, so you had to walk into the street to cross going north.

I’m really glad that the Dunkin’ Donuts staff didn’t follow the Feds, as that’s one of two morning possibilities for coffee. I splurged on a large coffee instead of my usual medium. (My employer does not provide coffee, which strikes me as slightly un-American, but I’m coping.)

It was hard not to fixate on traffic on New York Avenue—so fascinating watching vehicles navigate what’s normally quite the wide boulevard.

On my way out of the Capitol South station in the afternoon, I did my good deed as I saw a couple trying to figure out the fare card machine. They had rolling suitcases with them, so I’m thinking they were not locals. I interrupted the process, calling out, “Hello? Metro’s free today.” The looks on their faces as the man jerked his $20 bill from the machine was just priceless. I totally made their day.

And here’s my final street sight for the day next to the eatery on the corner: