![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
BOMBS!
On the way home tonight, my train stopped at Walpole. Everyone was ordered to pick up their belongings and get off the train while the police searched it with dogs. It was cold as hell, so no one was pleased about that.
We stood around while police with dogs searched the train, went through the crowd, and inspected the undercarriage of the train. It was cold, cold, cold.
For quite a while no one told us anything, but finally a conductor told some of us that there had been ten bomb-like devices found in the area, and that possibly some threats had been phoned in. Five of the devices had turned out to be hoaxes, but they were still checking the rest. The whole goddamned thing seemed surreal. All the passengers (and there were a lot of us, it was a full train) gossiped and bitched about the situation. One guy near me didn't even have a decent coat on; he was freezing.
There was a TV crew and reporter down the platform. I noticed that the dog was a big brown one, very friendly-looking; its tail was wagging like mad. That kind of ruined the Gestapo feeling I'd been working up (as it happens, I'm reading The Great Escape right now). At one point the dog came right up to me, and I was momentarily imagining that the cops would think I had a bomb...but it kept going.
I called Teri, told her what was going on, and said I'd call her back once I knew more. After about fifteen minutes I called her back, and loudly said "Hi honey! They just started the strip searches, and..." which got a big laugh from the crowd. At that moment the police let us get back on the train. So all in all we spent about twenty minutes standing in the freezing cold.
Turns out that it was some sort of promotional thing for Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a show I sometimes watch. Turner Broadcasting, the company responsible for it, have apologized. But there's no email address on their contact page, and somehow I suspect that's a new development.
We stood around while police with dogs searched the train, went through the crowd, and inspected the undercarriage of the train. It was cold, cold, cold.
For quite a while no one told us anything, but finally a conductor told some of us that there had been ten bomb-like devices found in the area, and that possibly some threats had been phoned in. Five of the devices had turned out to be hoaxes, but they were still checking the rest. The whole goddamned thing seemed surreal. All the passengers (and there were a lot of us, it was a full train) gossiped and bitched about the situation. One guy near me didn't even have a decent coat on; he was freezing.
There was a TV crew and reporter down the platform. I noticed that the dog was a big brown one, very friendly-looking; its tail was wagging like mad. That kind of ruined the Gestapo feeling I'd been working up (as it happens, I'm reading The Great Escape right now). At one point the dog came right up to me, and I was momentarily imagining that the cops would think I had a bomb...but it kept going.
I called Teri, told her what was going on, and said I'd call her back once I knew more. After about fifteen minutes I called her back, and loudly said "Hi honey! They just started the strip searches, and..." which got a big laugh from the crowd. At that moment the police let us get back on the train. So all in all we spent about twenty minutes standing in the freezing cold.
Turns out that it was some sort of promotional thing for Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a show I sometimes watch. Turner Broadcasting, the company responsible for it, have apologized. But there's no email address on their contact page, and somehow I suspect that's a new development.