Morning Subway
Sccreeeeecchchhhhhhhh. [ doors open ] THIS IS MARCY AVENUE ... THIS IS A MANHATTAN BOUND JAYYY EXPRESS TRAIN ...
A man standing in front of the doors with an iPad in hand and headphones on looked surprised that the train had stopped and that the doors were opening again. His wide eyed confused expression indicating that it perplexed him why the doors would open at a station that was not his stop. His confusion turned to urgency when he realized he needed to get out of the way of the 5 or so people getting on the train at the door he was obstructing. Eyes still wide, he allowed the passengers the board, and then he settled back into the virtual shell comprised of Apple™ and Beats by Dre™.
A woman got on the train with a nice fur jacket on and her hair straightened under a knit stocking cap. She looked into the car when getting on with an expression that seemed to say, "The bottom. I have arrived. Can't get much worse now."
NEXT STOP WILL BE DELANCEY ESSEX stand clear oftheclosing doorsplease... [ doors close, then open again, then halfway close again, then open again ] STAND CLEAR OF THE CLOSING DOORS PLEASE. [ doors close ].
The train lurched forward to progress across the bridge into the city and the woman had not secured a stable position. She stumbled, caught herself, and looked as if things had gotten worse. Maybe a taxi will be available tomorrow.
An old man had fallen asleep right below where I am standing. He had accidentally let his plastic bag of wares fall to a resting position on my foot. In this moment comes a decision: wake this man up to ensure that he secures his plastic bag or slip my foot out from under it, removing any semblance of culpability. I kept my headphones on and slipped my foot out, but gave the bag a little nudge to smoosh the bag into his feet. He woke up, not sure what had roused him and picked his bag up. Problem solved.
The train in the morning is usually quiet. This morning, the train is especially quiet. An agglomeration of people who don't know each other going to different unique places. Some are reading, some have headphones in, some are just doing nothing, and some will close their eyes for a moment. The gentle rocking of the train and the sun coming in through the windows on this above ground train can make a commuter sleepy. A man near the front of the car I am on is snoring and manspreading. He has probably been on the train for some time. People look at him with condescending glares, desperately hoping their disapproval will defeat his sleep apnea. No such miracle occurred on this day. The snores rage on.
The bridge brings us over the East River into Manhattan.
A woman comes into the car via the doors that connects the cars. It is consistently made aware to subway riders that using these doors is against the rules, but it is some sort of underground code that this rule is bullshit. When you are on the subway it is simple fact; people who use the subway are smarter than the MTA. The woman then walks all the way through the car, brushing and sometimes outright running into people standing, to the doors at the opposite end of the car and is gone just as fast as she came in, her mission unannounced to the wholly uninterested and unamused commuters of this particular subway car.
We pull into the station.
DELANCEY ESSEX STREET TRANSFER TO THE EFF EMM AND ZEE TRAINS... [ shuffle shuffle shuffle, people exiting... people boarding... shuffle ] THIS IS A BROAD ST. BOUND JAYYY TRAIN NEXT STOP IS BOW-REE stand CLEAR of the CLOSING DOORS PLEASE.
Note: I ended up not riding this morning, because I have family arriving in town and didn't want to lug by bike around with them this evening. Rides to commence on Tuesday.