The Subway

I've been meaning to write an ode to the subway and am just now finally getting around to it. So many people complain about the horrid MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) including myself, but deep down I actually love it. That's right; I love the subway.

There is something about waking onto that drafty subway platform with hundreds of other people and looking down the tracks hoping to see those bright lights coming around the bend. As a New Yorker you spend A LOT of time waiting on a subway platform. There are no monitors telling you when the next subway is going to come, so you always have to just wait it out. It could be 30 seconds or 30 minutes. You just never know. And this can lead to hallucinations. I stand on the edge, peer down the tracks and convince myself that the subway is coming. I think "did the lights just get brighter?", "ooo, I think I can hear it! Or is that the traffic on the street? Or the loud headphones of the person approaching?", "yep, yep, those lights are definitely getting brighter.....umm....oh wait, no." I drive myself MAD. It's like a person in the dessert that sees a mirage.

But once the subway does arrive, that's when the fun starts. Everyone always says that there are so many different people in New York, but you don't really get that idea until you ride the subway. The thing is, the different people aren't cliche. It's not like the Village People times 100 or anything. Yeah there are the police officers, the business men, construction workers, etc. but SO much more.

-There's the short fat black man wearing his nice dress pants and shirt listening to his headphones and dancing around like a character on The Wiggles.
-The teenage Hasidic Jewish boys who we sometimes forget have hormones just like WASPS.
-The obvious tourist who stands with there legs buckled shoulder width apart holding the middle pole with two hands with the "I am suck a cool New Yorker/I am so out of my element and hope I don't get mugged" look.
-The infamous Muslim midget in her Burka.
-The metro sexual asshole taking her picture with his iPhone.
-And a million other interesting/hilarious/depressing/uplifting people that I will try and share with you periodically on this blog.