Another one from me.

My friend Toby and I (see Write About the Strike #5) drove out to Coney Island to get my babysitteandsomuchmore from her apartment building. She was feeling like a captive in her own home and wanted to come in to work. And Toby is thinking about starting a company called, Toby Taxi.

The ride out was pretty easy. We took Seventh Avenue to the Prospect Expressway, which had only light traffic. Surf Avenue was virtually empty, the boarded up amusement park looked particularly picturesque.

Babysitterandandsomuchmore had a little trouble getting into the back seat of Toby’s SUV, due  to a leg injury, but we managed to get her in. The drive back was pretty easy. We listened to WNYC and heard that the strike may be over:

It seems that the state mediators have devised a preliminary framework for a settlement of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority contract dispute that would allow strikers to return to work later today, the chief mediator said.

It is not clear when members of Transit Workers Union would return to work to get subways and buses running again. The union’s executive board must first accept the settlement framework, although mediators said the union’s leaders had agreed to ask the executive board to approve the recommendations.

Babysitterandsomuchmore breathed a sigh of relief from the back of the car. The Prospect Expressway was quite crowded on the way back, as was 8th and 7th Avenues in Park Slope. After 11 am, when there’s no 4-in-a-car regulations, everyone takes out their cars.

What a mess. But hope is on the way. It just remains to be see how long it will take to get the subways and buses up and running.