I was quite happy that I was lucky enough to get one of the single seats on the train tonight. It's never a guarantee that I'll be able to get one of the single seats, but being the night before Thanksgiving the train tends to be even busier than usual.
So I got on the train and headed towards the front of the train where no doors had opened. And as I made my way through the second car of the train, I spotted an empty single seat, and there was one guy between that seat and me. And he was blocking the whole isle while he put his luggage into the rack, so I couldn't sneak past him and nab the single seat. If he wanted it, there was nothing I could have done to stop him (Besides him being between the seat and I, he was bigger than I was.). But he put his luggage away and then walked back the other direction into the middle of the car. I jogged forward and with a smug grin happily claimed my seat.
Of course, that smug grin quickly disappeared when I realized where the seat was: Right next to the dining car.
A quick lesson on the layout of the Amtrak train car I typically ride in: The cars are two floors, with the lower floor being reserved for the disabled and elderly who have difficulty climbing the stairs. There are two stairwells on each car, with one about a third of the car from each end. Across from the stairwell is a luggage rack. Each car is composed mostly of two person seats. There are 8 seats in each car that feature four seats facing each other across a table, and there are 2 more seats that feature four facing seats without a table. At each end of each car on the upper level is a door to the next car, and because there isn't enough room for a two person seat, there is a single seat on each side of that door, for a total of 4 single seats per car.
So, I'm on a very busy train, sitting right next to the door to the dining car. The snack bar line is so long that it has stretched out of the dining car the whole ride, so the line blocks me into my seat. And the bored people standing in the line idly watch me typing, and I get self conscious and turn my screen away from them only to realize that I just gave them a better view in the reflection in the window.
And the worst part is the people standing in line just hold the door open, so all the noise from the train echoes up and right into my ears, and boy is it a good thing that I have aspirin with me.
I asked the first few people to shut the door and to just wait on the other side. "Besides, standing between the cars isn't safe," I'd remind them. But I quickly gave up on that tactic when I realized that I'd have to remind every 4th person, because people are dumb.
But I've got a single seat, and that's all that counts.
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