![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Last night we took a trip to West Seattle to attend a concert by Puget Soundworks entitled "Menagerie." We left the house just after four in the VUE; Gary drove to Northgate. We just missed the train that was in the station when we arrived. A second train came about ten minutes later and was almost immediately followed by another. We boarded the second train along with a bunch of Kraken fans, but they mostly piled into the forward cars and our rear most car remained relatively empty. At Roosevelt a youngish and rather short and cute dude with a stubbly beard boarded with a case of wine. He wore a hooded winter coat, gray sweatpants, socks, and sandals. He smelled a little spicy, not nearly as bad as the dude on the previous train. Also two sk8r dudes sat the other side of Gary and left at UW. Wine dude left ahead of us at Westlake and dropped a few things on the platform, but the wine was all he could handle and he left the rest behind. I had some difficulty ascending to street level because the one working escalator was full of Kraken fans and no other elevators or up escalators were in working order. Outside the station one of a team of black street preachers appeared to be spoiling for a fight with every white passerby. Gary and I agreed it's better to mind your own goddamned business.
We walked the block and a half to the Elephant and Castle pub in the basement of a local hotel. There were several football games on the many TVs around the dining room and bar. Gary ordered a diet cola and bangers and mash; I had a Seattle Cider and the Double Standard cheeseburger and chips (i.e. fries). While Gary waited for the bill, I used the restroom which was much the worse for wear: both urinals were wrapped in trash bags and the open stall had a wet floor. We made our way to the bus stop at 3rd and Pike, noting that most of the businesses on the block are closed and boarded up. The 120 bus arrived and it was a RapidRide vehicle, with all-door payment and slightly nicer seats. As we exited the newly refurbished West Seattle Bridge, I noticed a neighborhood sign that read, "Welcome to Delridge: The Bridge Is Back!" Two stops later we reached our destination.
We entered the building which had clearly been built as an elementary school and was still owned and operated by the school district. We walked to the end of a long corridor, got checked in and proceeded to the theater space just beyond. Gary chose seats just in front of the video cameras in the back. They seemed adequate if a bit cramped at first. I noticed that most of the men, including all of my friends from SMC, no longer sang with the chorus and there were only five discernable men's names on the roster: two tenors and three bass/baritones. The show featured music about animals, mainly birds at first. The singers all wore masks and that resulted in some difficulty understanding the lyrics. Surprisingly the harmonies worked despite the unbalanced assignment of vocal parts. By the end of the first act, however, my left knee was in agony from insufficient legroom, and during intermission I made a beeline to a seat in the more spacious row behind us; Gary chose to remain in his original seat. As a result I enjoyed the second act much more than the first. After the show Gary was trying to assist a father with two children, one of whom had lost a $20 bill under a seat. As we made our exit through the crowded lobby, I got to say hi to Rhonda Juliano, who founded Diverse Harmony here before moving to Cincinnati; her presence was a pleasant surprise.
We walked to the bus stop out front and caught the 120, which this time was a regular articulated bus instead of a RapidRide, back to downtown Seattle opposite Benaroya Hall. We descended into the station and I noticed that there was no accessible path from the street to the northbound platform: the street elevator to the Seneca Street mezzanine, the interior elevator to the platform from the University Street mezzanine and the parallel escalator were all out of service. This is really inexcusable and Sound Transit is lucky they don't already have an ADA lawsuit. A homeless dude was seated on the broken escalator and was acting strangely when the train arrived, so Gary insisted we board the second car to avoid him. We sat behind a young father and his small son of about four or five. The boy was bouncing around and his dad tried in vain to make him sit down for more than a few seconds at a time. Also, the map showing which station we were at, and the recorded announcements linked to the map, were at first inoperative and later wildly incorrect, having reset to the south end of the line at Angle Lake while we were at UW or Brooklyn.
When we arrived at Northgate and got underway on the freeway, Gary was more than usually stressed about traffic and the $20 bill incident. But we managed to get home in one piece nonetheless.
We walked the block and a half to the Elephant and Castle pub in the basement of a local hotel. There were several football games on the many TVs around the dining room and bar. Gary ordered a diet cola and bangers and mash; I had a Seattle Cider and the Double Standard cheeseburger and chips (i.e. fries). While Gary waited for the bill, I used the restroom which was much the worse for wear: both urinals were wrapped in trash bags and the open stall had a wet floor. We made our way to the bus stop at 3rd and Pike, noting that most of the businesses on the block are closed and boarded up. The 120 bus arrived and it was a RapidRide vehicle, with all-door payment and slightly nicer seats. As we exited the newly refurbished West Seattle Bridge, I noticed a neighborhood sign that read, "Welcome to Delridge: The Bridge Is Back!" Two stops later we reached our destination.
We entered the building which had clearly been built as an elementary school and was still owned and operated by the school district. We walked to the end of a long corridor, got checked in and proceeded to the theater space just beyond. Gary chose seats just in front of the video cameras in the back. They seemed adequate if a bit cramped at first. I noticed that most of the men, including all of my friends from SMC, no longer sang with the chorus and there were only five discernable men's names on the roster: two tenors and three bass/baritones. The show featured music about animals, mainly birds at first. The singers all wore masks and that resulted in some difficulty understanding the lyrics. Surprisingly the harmonies worked despite the unbalanced assignment of vocal parts. By the end of the first act, however, my left knee was in agony from insufficient legroom, and during intermission I made a beeline to a seat in the more spacious row behind us; Gary chose to remain in his original seat. As a result I enjoyed the second act much more than the first. After the show Gary was trying to assist a father with two children, one of whom had lost a $20 bill under a seat. As we made our exit through the crowded lobby, I got to say hi to Rhonda Juliano, who founded Diverse Harmony here before moving to Cincinnati; her presence was a pleasant surprise.
We walked to the bus stop out front and caught the 120, which this time was a regular articulated bus instead of a RapidRide, back to downtown Seattle opposite Benaroya Hall. We descended into the station and I noticed that there was no accessible path from the street to the northbound platform: the street elevator to the Seneca Street mezzanine, the interior elevator to the platform from the University Street mezzanine and the parallel escalator were all out of service. This is really inexcusable and Sound Transit is lucky they don't already have an ADA lawsuit. A homeless dude was seated on the broken escalator and was acting strangely when the train arrived, so Gary insisted we board the second car to avoid him. We sat behind a young father and his small son of about four or five. The boy was bouncing around and his dad tried in vain to make him sit down for more than a few seconds at a time. Also, the map showing which station we were at, and the recorded announcements linked to the map, were at first inoperative and later wildly incorrect, having reset to the south end of the line at Angle Lake while we were at UW or Brooklyn.
When we arrived at Northgate and got underway on the freeway, Gary was more than usually stressed about traffic and the $20 bill incident. But we managed to get home in one piece nonetheless.