After a long day of meetings, I left work around 7:00pm. Seeing that it was raining outside, I decided to put on a pair of shorts to make the walk to the subway a bit more tolerable.
As I walked to the subway station, I noticed that the lights were off most of the way. Complete power outage for several blocks in every direction. "Oh well," I thought, "I see that the area around the subway is lit up. Just a few blocks to go, and then I can hop on the subway and get home."
When I arrived at the subway station, the metal doors were shut tight. I walked around to the various exits, and I saw that they were all closed. After checking the TTC's website on my phone, I saw that about half of the subway system was closed. And it was a 3 km walk to the nearest open station. Shuttle buses were running, but it seemed like every bus was packed as full as a can of sardines, and they weren't moving much faster than pedestrians on the sidewalk.
Fantastic.
Predicting I wouldn't get home for quite some time, I decided to grab a quick dinner in the part of town that had electricity. I then walked 3 km to the subway station. It was wet, rainy, and crowded, but thankfully the worst of the storm had passed. The rain was comparable to that of a typical spring day in Seattle.
The subway ride was short, but it saved me several kilometres and hours of walking. I got off, took one look at the mob waiting for the bus, and figured it would be at least a one-hour wait to board. I instead headed for the street and proceeded to walk about 5 km home.
The entire time that I walked home, there was an entourage following me. It seems that I wasn't alone in deciding to abandon the bus and head home on foot. And it turned out to be a good idea: For most of this part of the trip home, there were no electricity and no traffic lights, so the traffic was moving about as fast as I was.
I got back to my place soaking wet, exhausted, and ready to sleep. Of course, the power was out at my place, meaning that there was little to do. It was the cherry on top of my ice cream commute walk.
Yet, I am (surprisingly) still thankful. In spite of the waste of time and energy to get home, I still had:
- a roof over my head
- running water
- food
- a charged phone with 3G internet
- dry clothes
- a couch and bed to rest on
However, the best part of the commute home was knowing that I had brought a pair of shorts to work that day. Had I worn my jeans home, they would have weighed 20 pounds soaking wet and would have caused much discomfort. Wearing shorts meant that the walk home was just 10 kilometres long, and not 10 kilometres long in soaking wet jeans. That one detail made the whole tolerable.
The power came back on after midnight. Today, I am so grateful for what I have. Even when we have a bad day, we are still truly blessed.
