One L of a sick bastard...
Chicago is notable for many things; insanely cold winters, great pizza, a perennially underachieving baseball team and a fondness for gun violence. However one of Chicago’s landmark features has to be the ‘L’ or ‘Elevated Transit’ trains often featured as a convenient plot device in ER.
First opened in 1892, the L runs tired Chicagoans and fat tourists to all corners of the city. It’s pretty cheap, generally turns up when it should and, as long as you avoid sections of the south side lines which run through less than salubrious neighbourhoods, not too unpleasant to travel on. To outsiders, the creaking wooden platforms and sideways listing train cars can be unnerving; indeed in the last 2 weeks, two trains have derailed, one on an elevated section of the track, 20 feet above the city. No-one was badly injured, but there’s a certain frisson of fear that accompanies each journey, rather like riding an old switchback rollercoaster.

My own personal L horror came a few months ago. I’d been for lunch in Bridgeport and was catching the red line from Sox-35th to the Loop. I jumped in a carriage; it was fairly full and took a seat opposite to a guy who was clearly tweaking. I adopted the “head down, vacant stare” position and settled in. Suddenly, an odd smell hit me. My drugged out traveling companion had vomited copiously onto his hands, knees and the floor around him. I got up to move to another seat; as I did so, said meth-head scooped up the vomit and will a look of childish glee on his face did something that I have never seen anyone attempt to do before and hope that I will never see again…

He started juggling with it.

I was transfixed. And utterly repulsed, to the point where I started dry retching.

As the train pulled into Cermak-Chinatown, with one fluid movement, like a giant disgusted centipede, the entire section of the train that had witnessed this bizarre cabaret got up, exited the train and got into the next carriage.

I’ve been using the bus more frequently since then.
(Rakky (forgot her password) The muffin maverick, Tue 3 Jun 2008, 15:48, 2 replies)

Ohgodthat'sthemostdisgustingthingI'veeverheard!
I'm surprised you only dry-retched, and didn't take him on in a vomit compo!

I was on the DLR a few months ago (the novelty of a driverless train soon wears off, I can tell you), and the lady stood next to me very calmy reached in to her bag, drew out a little plastic sandwich bag, and threw up in it.

There were 2 horrible things about this.

1) The bag was clear.
2) I had nowhere to go.

*click* for vomit juggling madness!
( Devil_In_Tights the *real* DiT!, Tue 3 Jun 2008, 16:14, closed)

very
LOL-tastic. *click*
(Mr.Dog was in love again on, Tue 3 Jun 2008, 17:53, closed)