All the way with CTA

Last week I was riding the L downtown with Neal and my mother-in-law, who was visiting from Massachusetts. After we had gone underground on the Red line, we stopped in between stations. I'm sure those of you living in NYC or DC are used to that trapped, dark feeling of nothingness when your respective public transit trains have delays; well, probably not since your respective public transits aren't on the brink of disaster.

But here in Chicago some genius decided that an elevated train would be a good idea, so if we stop suddenly, 90% of the time I can see the outside world - the one and only bonus of an elevated train in Chicago. I don't like being stuck on the L, much less underground with no way to escape.

Besides the awful prison-like feeling, we also encountered a terrible burnt smell invading our car. The L operator then announced, "Attention passengers, you will smell smoke as we approach the Clark/Division station. Do not be alarmed. Everything is under control. Thank you and have a blessed day. Peace."

I'm not kidding. I wrote it down so I could write about it in this post. He went on to explain that a train in front of us had experienced brake problems, which explained the burning smell. Let me tell you, I felt safe. He made a lot of announcements over the next 15 minutes and basically made no sense or incessantly repeated himself. I think the L should issue booklets with specific announcements that the operators can read in case of problems like this. But that's just wishful thinking. On the up side, at least we could understand him. Most of the time it's static-city and all the passengers look at each other in confusion since no one could hear what the operator just said.

I saved the best for last. Among his many rambling taglines, he added, several times, "Thank you for going all the way with CTA." The hilarity of it all made for an enjoyable trip, which is a surprising statement considering we were riding the L. Now, if only they would make their new slogan, 'Going All the Way with CTA.'