It’s the Booze Train

December 29, 2006 – 10:11 am

I talk a lot of smack about Connecticut. But on a 2-hour train ride back into the city, I was sandwiched in a middle seat on Metro-North between a guy who smelled musty and someone’s dog in a carrying case. The musty smell, when the breeze was blowing just right, made me gag. The dog, which I am allergic to, made me sneeze and wheeze. Luckily, I could seek solace in the the next car of the train: the bar car.

barcar.JPG

See that? A giant Connecticut State Seal. That state is good for something after all.

Metro-North was very aggressive with the marketing of the bar car on this particular train. They would mention the bar car at nearly every opportunity they got:

Announcer in back of train: Passengers coming aboard, if you’re looking for some open seats, there are plenty, just keep moving to the back of the train.
Announcer in front of train: Hey, Jerry, way to take away our business up here!
Announcer in back of train: Oh, sorry, guys. We have a bar car on the train today, in the front car. Snacks, cold beverages, beer, wine coolers, and spirits. So, uh, head to the front of the train if you prefer the bar car over an open seat.

I, for one, do in fact prefer the bar car over an open seat.



  1. 6 Responses

  2. Thats hilarious!

    It reminds me of when I first moved to Australia. Whenever I headed out for a drink I was often told to watch out for the ‘booze bus’. It always sounded like a fun night out and on certain drunken occasions I was known to ask random people on the street where I could find this mysterious booze bus.

    After many strange looks and being called many variations of ‘piss artist’ someone informed me that it was in fact a police vehicle at the side of the road which did random breath tests on drivers. I felt like such an ass but in many ways I was glad to have never found one!

    By on Dec 30, 2006

  3. See…CT doesn’t suck entirely (just mostly). And I say that as someone who grew up here, escaped and then came back.
    Oh yeah - and no one in my family plays golf or tennis, we drove my mom’s old station wagon instead of BMWs, and I HATE preppy clothes - but sometimes you’ve got to get inside the system to fight it.

    By on Dec 30, 2006

  4. You should come to Sweden and try our trains…..

    Happy New Year from Sandared, Sweden, Europe
    :-)

    By on Dec 30, 2006

  5. Oh come on, it will be only a period of time… airplanes sell booze to its passengers by the gallon, so why stop there?

    By on Dec 30, 2006

  6. good reading…….glad I found it

    By on Jan 1, 2007

  7. wow. sounds like the nether-regions between toronto and montreal…

    m.

    By on Jan 2, 2007

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