On the Q Train, 2012
Because I work from an office in my home, most days the
longest commute I have is from one end of the house to the other. I did my time
in traffic. I can’t imagine wasting time commuting in a car any more.
While in New York recently, though, I enjoyed riding the
subway. I couldn’t have had it easier. There is a subway station three blocks from
the house in Brooklyn where I was staying and a stop in Manhattan just two
blocks from the workshop site.
Still, the commute took about 45 minutes each way, which left
a lot of time for observing. Here’s some of what I saw:
·
Five
women sitting in a row, each with white iPod ear buds, each one tapping her
toes to the hiss of a different rhythm.
·
People
in various stages of slumber.
·
A
man getting on the subway with two young children whose breakfast, consumed on
the subway as it hurtled into New York, consisted of Tootsie Pops.
·
A
lady calmly applying makeup and finger nail polish as the train rattled and screeched
and rocked from side to side as it rounded curves.
·
A
girl starting a self-help book chapter titled, “How to get Lucky.”
·
No
one talking to anyone else, except for the Russian guys from Brighton Beach who
hole up at one end of the car and regale each other with tales of their great
prowess with the ladies.
·
People—women,
mostly—reading religious texts, trigonometry guides, romance novels and
magazines in Hebrew, English, French, Polish and Russian.
·
Young
women, perhaps struck by a fleeting moment of contrition after reading her
Bible, standing up long before her stop and offering her seat to anyone who
wanted it.
·
A
40-something couple holding hands and lovingly caressing and dancing with
each other around a pole. A wonderfully lyrical moment.
·
A
group of young African-American kids hopping on the train at Union Square and
performing gymnastics and pole dances (not to be confused with the elegant
moves of the aforementioned couple) and passing a hat for tips before hopping
off at Canal Street.
·
Two
young men stepping onto the train at Dekalb Avenue in Brooklyn, snatching several
necklaces from around the neck of a middle-aged Latino woman and stepping back
off the train before the doors close.
Fun. I always get a kick out of folks on the subways in NYC. And sometimes, there are some really good buskers in the stations, too.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry you did not get to hear the Mexican trios. They are frequently quite good.
ReplyDelete