Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
✶ Thank you for your readership and contributions. ✶
Friday, April 19
I only recently learned that it's allowed (and depending on your traveling companions, encouraged) to drink alcohol on Metra trains. But it's worth noting, as my conductor did this morning, that Metra restricts carrying alcohol and/or glass bottles at night and on weekends during the big downtown festivals, including this weekend's Blues Fest. Here's the calendar of blackout dates (pun intended).