sovay: (Rotwang)
sovay ([personal profile] sovay) wrote2014-02-06 11:45 am

Girls in white, men in black

[livejournal.com profile] derspatchel and I are on our way to New York, to see Norman Bel Geddes at the Museum of the City of New York before the exhibit leaves. This in despite of his crutches and my braces, which I have just successfully replaced without losing them down a terrifying Amtrak Regional toilet (partly because I was careful not to take them into the terrifying Amtrak Regional bathroom in the first place). The sun is doing that mid-to-late winter thing where the snow looks creamy, faintly gilded under a hazy, light-streaked sky. Bleach bypass. The cirrus looks like the northern lights in monochrome. Besides the sky, the only real colors running alongside the train are the crumpled brown of deciduous leaves and the rusting on the pylons of the power lines. Houses here and there, oddly pastel; all slope-roofed with snow. The rivers are dark or opaque with reflection. I'm looking forward to the salt marshes and the sea. [edit] A little more color came into everything, but still: white masts, white snow, blue sky, blue water, all overcast sepia-gold; a hand-tinted postcard.

Less pleasantly, my Charlie Card expired. I hadn't even known that was a danger. I received no warning the last time I used it, or the last time I put money on it. We came down the escalator at Davis this morning, the next train to Ashmont was a minute away, I moved to go through the turnstile and it honked at me. Card expired. I took the card out in case it couldn't read it properly. Still expired. I tried to put money on it. Still expired. At this point we were going to miss the Red Line no matter what; I turned rather frantically to the MBTA employee at the kiosk who pointed me wordlessly to a handwritten sign telling me to go to Downtown Crossing. Which I couldn't do with an expired card, never mind that we didn't have the time with our train leaving South Station in less than an hour. I paid five dollars for a printed ticket so that we could make our train; I'll have to go out by myself on Saturday and see if I can fix the problem then. The Globe tells me I should have known about the expiration in advance, but it's not very helpful to learn that I could have checked the expiration date at any fare machine when I didn't even know the cards were designed to expire. Un-fun.

No matter. We're on our way. It's our first trip as a married couple, I realize. Honeymoon stage one, commencing now.
phi: (Default)

[personal profile] phi 2014-02-06 07:21 pm (UTC)(link)
That exhibit looks awesome. I wish I had noticed it the last time I was in New York.

We're on our way. It's our first trip as a married couple, I realize.

I hope you have many more!

[identity profile] moon-custafer.livejournal.com 2014-02-06 05:01 pm (UTC)(link)
It's called a Charlie card? That's adorable.

[identity profile] schreibergasse.livejournal.com 2014-02-06 05:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Less pleasantly, my Charlie Card expired.

Suck! And that presumably means mine's expired as well! wtf, MBTA?
...Oh right. In calling it a Charlie Card, they were basically admitting in advance that they were going to pull something like this.

Your trip, by contrast, sounds lovely. It is indeed that sort of day.

[identity profile] snowy-owlet.livejournal.com 2014-02-06 06:02 pm (UTC)(link)
I hope you have a wonderful trip!

[identity profile] cucumberseed.livejournal.com 2014-02-06 06:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Enjoy your journey, and may it be henceforth free of strife. Also, owls, I suppose, since I mistyped strife striges. Also, Slow-Life infected child soldiers. Also, free of transposed-letter Gygaxian bat-winged giant mosquitoes.

If one of the four must turn up on your honeymoon, I hope it's owls.

[identity profile] nineweaving.livejournal.com 2014-02-06 06:36 pm (UTC)(link)
I think owls on their honeymoon would be lovely: a silent consort of them, wheeling slowly round their shoulders.

Nine

[identity profile] ashlyme.livejournal.com 2014-02-06 06:32 pm (UTC)(link)
I love the idea that you're getting a honeymoon in increments.

Wishing you more postcards and luck with the Charlie card (it has more charm than the Oyster card in London, that name).

[identity profile] ashlyme.livejournal.com 2014-02-08 01:23 am (UTC)(link)
Looks like it comes from "the world is your oyster" and the Thames' association with said mollusc.

[identity profile] ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com 2014-02-06 07:56 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm sorry to hear about the mess with the Charlie Card. It seems very wrong-headed that, if it must have an expiration date, it doesn't have said date printed on the card itself, as Metrocards do.

I hope ye have no more frustrations on your trip, and a wonderful time in NYC. Happy stage one honeymooning!

[identity profile] swan-tower.livejournal.com 2014-02-06 08:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Enjoy! (Despite the annoyance and hassle at the start.)
gwynnega: (John Hurt and penguin)

[personal profile] gwynnega 2014-02-06 09:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Enjoy your trip!

[identity profile] ladymondegreen.livejournal.com 2014-02-07 02:20 am (UTC)(link)
Have a fabulous time!

*waves to you from a more proximate distance than usual*

[identity profile] ladymondegreen.livejournal.com 2014-02-09 02:11 pm (UTC)(link)
It's just pleasing to know you're out there enjoying the city. Lord grant, we have plenty of time to catch up when you're not on your honeymoon.