Around 5:15 this afternoon (or evening if that's your fancy), I was walking toward the long Rosslyn escalators. As usual, I was sizing up the two lanes to determine the easiest and fastest one to walk up the left-side. As I inched closer, the right escalator had very few people. In fact, it had nobody in either the local (left) nor the tourist (right) lanes. I imagined myself flying up the escalator in my way-too-old sneakers that I wear to save my feet from dress shoe blisters. Oh sure, the other escalator's line was very long and nobody was approaching the right escalator, but I might as well shoot for the moon.
What Dupont (or any station's stairs) look like as you catch the last train on Saturday night.
I appoached the VIP escalator and saw a metro worker toying with it. I asked if I could still walk up the escalator (and fulfill my dream of finally counting the number of steps in the Rosslyn station (I average 88 steps when I traverse it)), but I was told he was simply trying to get it running again. Unfortunately, I had to pass on this oasis of metro stairclimbing and travel up the slower than usual left lane of the only working escalator. I probably looked like a jerk since I walked right up to the broken escalator only to cut in line of the working one at the last minute. I was no better than those cars that get over at the last minute on Cabin John Parkway. As I made my way up the moving escalator, I watched the right one with intensity, only to find it not working by the time my trip ended. If only I could have gone up the frozen escalator and found out just how many steps there are...if only I also had a brain and realized how unimportant finding that out would be.
4 comments:
Hey there--I've been reading your blog for a few months now, and have really enjoyed it.
With that in mind, congrats on the kudos from DC Blogs! And, to add to the patting-of-self on the back material: you appear to be in the WaPo Express today. Well done!
http://www.readexpress.com/index.php
Thanks for letting me know someone other than my aunt in Chicago, SO, and cousin read this blog :) Also, thanks for pointing toward the Express online shoutout. I will pay you with a link to your blog if you keep looking out for me.
Given a vertical height at Rosslyn of 97 feet from street to platform, and 8" risers on the escalator, that would be 146 steps. Plus the four or five that flatten out at both the top and bottom--do those count?
Sure thing. Forewarning, though: my parents and my best friend are, well, the only people who read my blog. (I put it up so I could be lazy about not sending emails while living abroad this year.) So, I have a policy about not linking other blogs in, because it would confuse the hell out of my middle-aged parents. This whole "inter-connected blog network" thing is a little too much for my audience to handle. So although I can't repay you with a link, I'll keep my eyes peeled for more kudos. Hope that's cool with you!
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