That was NOT a Safe Ride

This Saturday, Nupur and I went to see a Tom Stoppard play called "The Real Inspector Hound" being performed by a student group in Brown's T. F. Green building, which I'd say is about three-fourths of a mile away from either of our dorms. We got out of the play, I think, very shortly after 12:00AM (so by the it was technically Sunday morning). We started walking back towards our dorms, but we were both freezing the entire time we were watching the play and we were even more freezing now that we were walking outside. We really, really wanted a way to be not-freezing-our-faces-off.

The obvious answer, of course, is SafeRide, the free shuttle that goes around the Brown and RISD campuses. For the past couple days, Nupur and I kept seeing SafeRide vans with drivers just parked in the lot outside of B & H, and since that was essentially on our way back anyway, we figured we would go there. For the first time we could remember, there were no SafeRide vans in the parking lot of B & H. I don't think we saw any at all, not even any parked without drivers.

So we kept walking on, past B & H. We could see into the lounge (where I am right now) and see that no one was there, so we knew there was no way in. We kept walking around to the sliding-door entrance and I tried all three of the doors there - the central sliding doors and the two doors on either side - because I really wanted a break from the freezing (B & H usually has a good climate). None of the doors opened. We could see people in the computer lab - some people have cards that will let them swipe in - but we figured it wasn't even worth waiting to get the attention of the nearest person and ask to be let in, so we just went on and figured we would look for SafeRide on Thayer St.

So we made The Walk from B & H, down the brick pathway lined with trees, across Brook St., across the cement sidewalk between the Sci Li and MacMillan, and turned right onto Thayer St. Nupur thought she saw a SafeRide van parked, so we ran towards it screaming, but then we saw that it wasn't a SafeRide van. Then, thank god, a SafeRide van came driving right towards us from further up Thayer St., so we flagged it down, ran to the nearest stop, and got in.

Now, when you get into SafeRide, you're supposed to show them your Brown or RISD ID card so they know they're not just giving rides to crazy people who want free, safe rides in white vans with heaters on. Oh, yes, the heater was on and it was glorious. Anyway, the point is, the driver didn't check our IDs. We just got right in and he left as soon as we closed the door. That didn't make me feel very safe...?

We got in the van at 12:17AM.

As we were driving down Thayer St., the driver kept talking on his cell phone (but in walkie-talkie mode) in Spanish(?) to someone else. Just about all I could figure out was that it was also a guy. The only time our driver stopped talking on his cell phone was when he wasn't driving the van, which seemed completely backwards, but what was I going to do? So I just went with it, feeling once again, not very safe.

Our ride wasn't the most direct path. We went down Thayer St. some more, and I forget exactly where we went from there, but I remember we drove through the center of The Walk and I was upset that we hadn't just caught the SafeRide van crossing when we were there. Later on in the ride, the van actually stopped right outside the T. F. Green building, where Nupur and I had left the play. We could have just stayed inside and waiting and we would have been exactly as well off as we were before. We felt a little cheated, I think.

When we stopped at the T. F. Green, three more people got in - Peter Drinan, a really nice guy from New York in my Education class; Taylor, a very proud singer; and another girl whose name I unfortunately forgot as soon as she said it. Peter and Taylor were in a competition that night to see who knew more people - they were in that competition before the play, too, and Peter called my name just so he could prove to Taylor that he knew me.

When we got in the van, Peter said hello to me again to show again to Taylor that he knew more people than her. She introduced herself to me, and I said, "Hey, yeah, I'm Jeff, I've met you before!" She looked really confused. I'm pretty sure it was because I met her when she was drunk and she didn't have any memory of it. I guess she was a little worried of what I knew of her if she couldn't remember meeting me. I thought that was kind of interesting.

Nupur and I talked for the rest of the ride home. The other three got out at Keeney before the van went North to Pembroke so Nupur and I could get out.

It was 12:35AM when we got out of the van.

IT WAS NOT A SAFE RIDE.

Peace out!