Yesterday I was riding around with jezel (my ex) in downtown Seattle. We were going to go a particular thrift store, "Two Big Blonds". We got off the viaduct, and realized that the local baseball team was having a home game today. Much pedestrian traffic. Anyway, we tried to duck back underneath the viaduct to get on Alaska Way to get out of it.

So there we were on South Atlantic Street, right under viaduct, with a train slowly passing in front of us. While we were waiting, I related a short little story I had heard about a "friend of a friend" who was similarly in a hurry, waiting for a train to cross in front of him, and just as the train was almost past, it slowed, stopped, reversed, and started slowly going the other way.

We both agreed this was a funny story ("type 2 humor: someone else's misfortune").

When what happens? The train crossing in front of us of proceeded to slow, stop, and reverse. Much gnashing of teeth and banging on the steering wheel ensued. And the expressed frustration redoubled and then turned into seething as the train almost reached it's other end in front of us, and proceeded to reverse direction again!

So now this little tiny urban legend didn't happen to a "friend of a friend".

It happened to me.

Tags: stories
Current Mood: amused