Metra Shuffle

People can be amazingly forgetful. Last week I was in Seattle. There were numerous traffic delays Tuesday blamed on rain. Come on, it is Seattle - nine months of the year it rains. How can people forget to drive in the rain? Yes, the week before it snowed and traffic came to a standstill. That is understandable. It does not snow often in the Seattle area, the communities are not prepared for it, and the hilly terrain makes for treacherous driving on snow slickened roads. But, rain???

With the wind chill this morning in the suburbs of Chicago the temperature was -6°F. The trains were running late due to frozen switches. People were appropriately bundled up to stay warm. Amazingly though, not everyone standing next to the commuter railroad tracks danced the Metra Shuffle. Most of us remembered to start the dance by facing in the direction of the train. After the wave of wind from the train blasted us in our backs, on queue we shuffled around perpendicular to the tracks to board the train. A third of the passengers waiting with us though apparently forgot about the Metra Shuffle and had the side of their faces blasted by wind from the train.

By last Wednesday the drivers in Seattle largely remembered how to drive in the rain. Will Chicago’s Metra commuters remember to dance the Shuffle tomorrow?