I have time to take a fast train

I got back from Boston and the Abilities Expo Monday. It was a lot of fun. I spent Tuesday writing a nasty note to Boston about its cabbies (more later) and now have to decide what to do about the letter. In the meantime, let's start the debrief with the Acela trip:

It was very good. Everyone was most polite. Even the guy who assumed that because I use a chair, I must be mentally challenged, was quite polite when he held the bathroom door for me and asked if I was on the right train. The guys in DC who zipped up in a golf cart so fast they almost hit Claren and did cause her to leap backward and almost fall between the train and the platform were polite, too.

The best thing was folks talked to me, not just Mom. Granted, I could not hear them, but tried.

I was surprised how crowded the train was both ways, but we had no problems. I stayed in my chair -- not that there was a seat to transfer to. I learned five hours is my limit. After that I get antsy but whatever.

Apparently, some people also didn't learn to throw away their own trash. Three girls (college-age) got on the train, sat at one of the tables on the train, ate and drank, and then left all their trash. I stared at them as they left. A stranger cleared their trash.

The wheelchair bathroom on the train was passable -- nothing great. So I was quite surprised how many people used it as a first option. They would walk right by the restroom for able people and go to the accessible one. Idiots.

The one Acela complaint: They put out a little ramp to get you from the train to the platform. The one at the Boston station was an inch or two wider than my chair, or so it seemed. Not very goodd.

Later, the hotel and expo.