Claws, vomit and nightmares

Ever notice the amount of grown men with long finger nails taking the red line into/out of Quincy? This morning I had the displeasure of standing in front of a seated man who had the crustiest, most yellow, long, pointy fingernails I'd seen in quite some time. Take a look and you will throw up in your mouth a little just like I did:

Not only were this man's hands nauseating to look at, but at one point he started tapping his crusty claws, one at a time in quick succession against the metal pole, creating the most irritating and vomit-inducing noise I'd experienced in a long time. I gave him the look of death and scurried away in disgust/terror as he proceeded to make his claw/pole music, which sounded just so beautiful when combined with his hacking, wet cigarette cough.

I'm definitely going to have nightmares about those claws tonight. Usually they only have one or two long pinky or thumb nails, but this guy had 10 fingers in need of a visit with a hacksaw and anti-fungal treatment. At least he didn't pick his nose with them, as I all too often witness on the red line.

Video! Coldest commute day and biggest crowds.

What the F, MBTA. I'm on to you... on Tuesday you announce potential fare hikes. This gets people upset and gets them thinking, "Hey, I don't need the damn T if they're going to be so expensive." Then, in an obviously calculated attempt to show people how much we need the T to run properly, the frackin red line has disabled trains and ridiculous delays on the coldest commute of the 2011-2012 winter season.

I got to Wollaston and noticed a lot of people waiting downstairs. I thought, "oh it must be reeaaallly cold and windy up on the platform. I'm going to get a good spot and let those suckers rush up the stairs when that 8:35am train rolls in!" Silly, naive, me. I get to the top of the stairs and there must have been thousands of people standing there. There was also a train, packed to maximum capacity, just sitting there. People were desperately trying to squeeze on, as though this train was the last one to heaven and everyone else was destined to eternity in hell. What a pathetic display of desperation and inconsiderate behavior. Step back and let that damn train move, people! Jesus. Check out my VIDEO of the scene here.

So I wait, and wait, and wait, and there are several announcements on the loud speaker about a disabled train at Wollaston. The damn thing had moved so let's freshen up the announcement and be accurate, MBTA robot spokesman.

Miraculously, after about 20 minutes of standing in the 13 degree and windy weather at the top of the open Wollaston platform, a train pulls up and I get on! The pack of people pushing their way on to the train was disgusting, and I did intentionally kick the shin of man behind me who was pushing me.