I took this picture this morning at about 7:45. That’s Ella’s left ear in the foreground on the right side of the photo. We are both standing at the end of the tram, Ligne 2, of course, on our way to her school. I took it to try to represent how many people were on the tram. It was fairly packed.

It’s an interesting thing, riding the tram at this time in the morning just before school or when school lets out in the afternoon. On Monday morning we could hardly fit on the tram. In fact, my arm was in the doorway and kept the door from fully closing at first, thus delaying the tram’s departure. I think something like this had happened on some earlier stops because that tram was late Monday morning. It also was the first day back to school after winter break so I think students were a little earlier than what becomes normal. With trams running every 7 minutes and it being easy for them to get delayed by a minute or two, it’s not surprising how some trams end up more packed than others.

Ella has developed some theories about this and suggests waiting for a later tram if there is too great a gap between one that recently left and the next one coming. The next one, she says, is bound to be full, just like this morning’s. I think she should create a guidebook, “Ella’s Guide to Riding Line 2.” After all the coverage I’ve given it you’d buy a copy, right? In no time at all it would be Amazon’s bestseller, I’m sure.