Overheard In Chicago

The Girl and I have a long standing debate about which is a better form of public transit - the El (that's elevated train for you non-Chicago folk) or the the bus lines.

My problem, as of late at least, with the bus lines isn't so much that they are slow and crowded but simply non-existent. The line we are supposed to take downtown is the 148 Express. You can stand on Irving Park and watch no less than ten nearly vacant 135's go by before getting a 148 packed so tight that it possibly violates several health code regulations.

Today we were commiserating with another distressed traveler. She remarked how annoying it was to see people running after 135's when, as The Girl chimed in, the bus right behind it is another 135. I noted that if you really wanted to catch a 135 you just need to step into traffic as chances were the vehicle that would hit would in fact be a 135. The woman then noted in an exasperated tone that she would complain formally but she felt she'd been blacklisted by the CTA.

At that point one of our resident hobos appeared, seemingly from nowhere, to state that he had once been blacklisted - even though, as he frantically and angrily pointed out - he was white. Nothing like an insane racist homeless person to cap off a discussion on the faults of the Chicago Transit Authority.

The Girl noted that they must have been color blind. Perhaps not oddly enough, this seem to agree with him and he left.