I really haven’t ridden the Washington Metro very much since the end of the COVID pandemic. Maybe once a month or so, no more. I used to ride it considerably more often.

But yesterday, I decided to take the Metro somewhere. I am not being more specific than that because, when I got on the Metro at Van Ness, I didn’t know where I was going to take it. It was a beautiful day, and I was out for a walk, and decided to walk in someone else’s neighborhood rather than my own for a change.

So I walked to the Van Ness station (about 2/3 of a mile from the house, maybe a little closer), and was very excited to see a Red Line train entering the station just about the same time that I was entering, and I got onto the train. And I decided to go all the way Union Station.

Then it hit me. This looked like old times. Over the past year or so, I have always felt a bit lonely on the Metro. The cars are fairly large (depending on the vintage of the car, they are built to hold 110-130 people each), and I have found myself more likely with only 5 or 6 others, nowhere near capacity. But yesterday…..wow! The car was, if not full, filled with people. Most seats taken, several people standing. Just like old times.

The car added and lost riders as it went station to station. Cleveland Park, Woodley-Zoo, Dupont Circle, Farragut North, Metro Center, Gallery Place, Judiciary Square. Only one more stop to go. But at Judiciary, the doors stayed open for what was clearly too long of a time. And then the voice of the driver came over the loudspeaker. “This car is out of service. This car is out of service. All passengers disembark.”

Yes, it was exactly like old times.

After I finished roaming the streets a few hours later, I got on a bus to come up Connecticut Avenue, the L2 bus. I got on at Connecticut and M, took out my Senior SmarTrip card, and touched it to the sensor, expecting the normal “buzzzzz”. No sound. I tried it again, but the bus driver said to me: “It’s not working. Just get on.” Ah, technology.

This reminded me of old times, too, but different old times. There I was in 1970-something in Naples, planning to take a short train ride and spend the day in Pompeii. Going to the station, I learned that all the ticket takers were on strike. What to do? I asked someone at the station if they knew how I could get to Pompeii. “Take the train”, he said, and pointed me to a particular track. “But I can’t get a ticket; they’re on strike”, I said. He looked at me like I was a little confused. “Only the ticket sellers are on strike”, he said, “the trains are running. No one else is on strike”. And so I went to Pompeii.

Oh, well for those of you wondering what I did yesterday when the train was evacuated at Judiciary Square. I left the Metro, rather than wait for the next one, and wandered on foot to Union Station – a moderately interesting walk in an area I don’t normally wander through – and had a Harvest Salad at the Franklin Grill, a carryout with outside tables in the office building where both NBC and CNN have their Washington offices. (You know, where the CNN anchors sit with windows overlooking the Capitol.)

The salad was fine and I realized how very American these various salads with chicken are. Are they served anywhere else? Can I get a Cobb Salad in Naples? I was excited to be at the Franklin Grill, because I expected that any minute Wolf Blitzer or Lester Holt or, yes, Kaitlan Collins would walk in, but – alas – there must be an executive dining room.

From there, I stopped in the United States Postal Museum, a Smithsonian Museum right next to Union Station. I hadn’t been there in a while – no big changes. A number of visitors.

I like to learn things at museums. So I looked at the exhibit on how stamps are printed. One of the examples (they displayed a full page block) was described as follows: “The vignette was printed by offset and the frame by intaglio. In offset printing, an aluminum plate is photographically treated so that the positive image retains ink. The plate transfers the image to a rubber blanket roll, which in turn transfers the design to paper for the finished product. Four colors (plus beige) were printed individually to achieve the final vignette image.”

One of the few times I have read an explanation and felt both dumber and humbled when I was done.