CTA Tattler

Plea for help on fatal CTA accident

Kelly posted this plea for help elsewhere in comments. Write her here if you can help:

"Was anyone on the train that was involved in a fatal accident in Evanston,
IL at 8:00 PM on Saturday, March 19, 2005?

"My brother was killed.    Please contact me. -- Kelly"

This is Kevin writing now. The only thing I found about this was here:

From CBS 2 Web site:

"Man Apparently Commits Suicide On CTA Tracks

Mar 20, 2005 3:34 pm US/Central
EVANSTON, Ill. (CBS 2) The Chicago Transit Authority temporarily suspended service on a section of the Purple Line after a 55-year-old man was apparently committed suicide on the tracks in Evanston Saturday night.

Killed was Kevin Lovell, 55, of an unknown address, according to Cook County the medical examiner's office.

An autopsy showed Lovell died from multiple injuries suffered when struck by the train, and his death was ruled a suicide, a medical examiner's office spokesman said

The man was struck by a train near 909 Noyes St. in Evanston, the medical examiner's office stated.

A southbound Purple Line train struck the man at the Noyes Station, 901 Noyes St., just before 8 p.m. Saturday night, according to CTA spokeswoman Robyn Ziegler.

Mickey-Dee's brainwashing

After having written about the eating habits of teens the last couple of days, we move on to five-year-olds.

Overheard between mom and daughter:

Mom: "What should we do on spring break?"

Five-year-old daughter: "Go to McDonald's. Go to the playground. Go to the pool."

Notice what she wants to do first.

McDonald's has 'em brainwashed, I'm telling ya.

Hold the anchovies

In my continuing report on teenage eating habits, we move to breakfast.

Researchers constantly remind us that breakfast is one of the most important meals, especially for teens.

That's why I was happy to see two teenage girls breaking their fast one morning on the Red Line. Even if they were eating half a cheese pizza. Out of a Victoria's Secret bag.

And even if they dropped the bag on the seat in front of them.

Hmmmm.... Maybe THAT'S why eating is prohibited on the CTA.

Boom box replaces Alcohol Tableau

I've written before about the Alcohol Tableau on rich display in a second floor window at the spot near Newport and Sheffield where the Red Line waits for the Brown Line to cross over.

First, the five neatly aligned bottles of booze were replaced by a styrofoam ice chest. Now a boom box occupies the space.

How boring. We can no longer judge how the party was the night before by how much liquor was left in the bottles.

Teen eating habits cross cultures

Two teenage boys from the nearby French academy board at Sheridan. They speak French animatedly and share a big bag of Mini Oreos.

The universality of the teenage experience.

The missing conversant

Here's a guest posting from Jeff:

A WireLESS conversation on the Red Line yesterday evening, 4 Feb 2005.

At about 7:30 pm I board the Red Line at Grand heading North to Loyola.    At Chicago, a neatly dressed gent boards and stands in the vestibule chatting briskly with, I assumed to be a smaller shorter person of whom he's blocking my view (He's facing forward with his back against the glass partition).

As the train squeals around the corner towards Clark/Division he's nearly yelling at the top of his lungs "WHAT?!  I CAN'T HEAR YOU!  HANG ON A SEC! HUH?!".  I'm wondering why he doesn't lean toward his assumed companion -- I mean yammering nut-bags really don't ride the train. Really.

Anyway, he loses his balance a little and shifts to face outward.  No companion.  Nobody.  Upon further examination he's yelling into a cell phone's hands-free headset.  I nearly roared in laughter.  One, there's no cellular service in the subway -- yet, and two, the cord to the headset was dangling and not plugged in.

Mixed-up conductor greetings

On the ride home last night, I got a train with the soft-spoken conductor who sends out greetings at the major stops. He's not on the level of the "Love Train" conductor, but he's amusing.

At Belmont last night he said: "Happy St. Patrick's Day. May the Force be with you."

Talk about mixed metaphors!

Eclectic reading materials for CTA riders

It's time for another installment of "Who's Reading What on the CTA." These observations were made over the last two weeks. And what's real interesting to me is that I haven't seen two people reading the same book. The ages listed are approximate. Women outnumbered men again. The guys were too busy completing their NCAA brackets.

Black and White and Jewish, by Rebecca Walker, by a 35-year-old woman.

The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia, Glenn Mitchell, 55-year-old man.

Living History, Hillary Rodham Clinton, woman, 45.

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, 30-year-old guy.

The Pilot's Wife, Anite Shreve, 30-year-old gal.

Angels and Demons, Dan Brown, 50-year-old man.

We, the Alien: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Paul Bohannon, 22-year-old woman, reading the chapter titled "Man and Woman, Sex and Babies."

Contrasting seatmates

A 20-something blonde woman boards at Wilson on a 25-degree morning, wearing and open red blazer and a green T-shirt. She holds a black-and-white striped clutch purse with black-and-white polka dots. Around her neck is a white silk scarf with polka dots in different shades of pink.

She parks on a seat next to a snoring man who is all bundled up against the cold. He sports a black knit cap pulled all the way down to his neck, obscuring his face. A gray scarf wraps his neck and covers where his mouth would be, were it visible.

There was a crooked lady, who had some crooked seams

Well, OK, maybe she wasn't a crooked lady, but her stocking seams sure were crooked.

She was short, maybe 25 years old, wearing black square glasses with her hair badly dyed blond. She stood on the Grand platform of the Red Line after a hard day's work wearing regular nude-colored stockings, with a black seam up the back. Except the seams were very crooked.

On one leg the seam started under her arch and wound its way up the back of her leg like a snaking tributary.

She found a seat on the train and promptly set things to right.