Planes. Trains. Automobiles.

I love public transportation.

And no, that was not a sarcastic comment. For a people watcher like me, the CTA, or any other public transit system for that matter, is the perfect place to get my fix and see a plethora of interesting and odd people.

On my first day in the city, I took the Red Line from Kait’s apartment up toward my neighborhood. As I waited underground for my train, a woman made her way to the middle of the platform. She was a big woman, and the clothes she wore billowed around her frame. She set down her bags and then, without even looking around, took a deep breath and started to sing. Totally unselfconsciously, with no cup for tips, she sang one gospel tune after another, swaying back and forth. She didn’t get on the train when I did, so I don’t know how long she stood there, but for a few minutes, it made the tagged underground space feel a little warmer.

Since the train doesn’t go out to WGN’s station, I typically take the bus to work in the morning. While the morning commuter crowd is usually pretty boring, the afternoon ride home, or a late night trip, always offers a few characters.

There was the man dressed head-to-toe in Cubs memorabilia…hat, jersey, watch, undershirt, socks…and tatted up arms. One of his tattoos revealed him as a Vietnam vet, the others just seemed like a hodgepodge of doodles he thought were cool at the time. But I didn’t ask, so I guess I’ll never really know the stories behind them.

I counseled a girl through a breakup on one train ride, and watched an intense game of dice during another. There’s almost always a panhandler, or a mother parading her kids around looking for change. Some times, when I get really lucky, there will be a whole car of empty seats and a weirdo will choose to sit next to me.

Friday, I get ready to head to my cottage for the holiday weekend. I get my train ticket, and am excited to find out that Erin is on my train, which means I’ll have someone I actually know to chat with on the ride home. Well, when we got on the train, all the double seats were already full with a t least one passenger. Everyone has to double up on these trips, so I’m hoping we might be able to sweet talk someone into switching so that we can sit together. No dice. So instead we sit across the aisle from one another. Well, we got lucky in terms of characters to sit near.

In the window seat next to Erin is an older lady in a very colorful jacket. She falls asleep about 10 minutes into the ride, and begins to quietly snore and her head jerks around with the moving train. Her nap doesn’t last too long, though, and when she wakes up, reaches into her bag and pulls out some kind of craft project. Erin and I glance out of the corners of eyes, trying to figure out what she is going to do with the thread and scissors. Then she takes out a purse, which I’m assuming she made, that is constructed of plastic grocery bags! Grocery bags! I don’t know how she did it, but it looked crocheted. After toiling with her for a while, she seemed satisfied at the end product, and put it away before pulling out her iPod and settling in for the rest of the trip.

Sitting across the aisle from each other wasn’t too terrible, unless you were the woman sitting next to me that is.

She had the seat next to her piled with her things, and when I asked her politely if I could sit next to her, slowly moved each piece one-by-one off the seat. I stood there waiting for her to complete the task, then sat down. Erin and I began chatting, at a reasonable volume for being on a train full of people. It didn’t take long after we pulled away from the station, though, for the lady next to me to start sighing and making comments under her breath about me talking to Erin. I didn’t pay much attention…until the conductor comes around to collect tickets. The girl behind her, who is sitting by herself, reaches over the seat and says “Mom, wake up, they need your ticket.” She responds with “I am awake. Can’t get no sleep on here with all this noise.”

WHAT?! She is traveling with her daughter, who has a set next to her open! Now I don’t feel the least bit bad for keeping her awake. Well, she spends the rest of the trip bumping into me with her elbows, hips and knees, all while sighing loudly and glaring at me. Literally glaring.

Finally, she manages to drone out my voice, rather Erin and I engaged in separate, quiet activities, and she fell asleep. Now we’re both content…until her gas kicks in. I wish I was joking about what I endured for the last 45-minute leg of my journey, but all I can say is it was pretty ripe. I guess she got me back. Damn karma.