New York City Subway Ride

Why is it that walking down into the subway is like walking onto the set of a Fellini movie? Well, not all the time. But sometimes. It's entertaining. There's that tiny little woman riding down the escalator. She must be 4 foot 9, wearing a forest green tweed coat and beige tam, her black purse looped over her elbow. Right behind her is a six foot tall woman with her blond hair in a flip. They look great together. I wonder if they notice. The bubbly black woman with the dyed red pseudo beehive hairdo is wearing cats eye glasses. She tries to hand each of them an AM New York, but neither of them take it. On the platform, there's a grizzled looking guy with wild hair, muttering to himself. He's wearing a hospital gown and has a hospital blanket wrapped around his neck like a scarf. His lit cigarette dangles from his fingers. I make a wide loop around that guy, and of course, I just miss the uptown F train; the doors close just as I get to them. When the next train comes, a troop of girl scouts from Virginia rushes past. I know they're from Virginia because they're carrying signs that say "We're from Virginia." The car smells like ammonia and there are some wet spots on the floor. Down the other end is a tall transvestite in a short skirt saying "Ni hao" to everyone she sees. She's got nice legs. Of course she does. Transvestites always have the best legs. Her friend is wearing a suit. I don't know if he has nice legs.

Now that the weather has gotten colder, I've started taking the subway to work in the morning. Some would call it the ultimate in laziness, but taking two trains two stops isn't necessarily a bad thing. I like riding the subway. I like reading Poetry in Motion. I like the Bryant Park station, with it's golden tree root mosaics and its quotes about nature. Who would've thought to put Mother Goose and Ovid next to each other? It's warm and mostly dry. The accordion player is good. And besides, I won't go into what the subway does smell like, but it ain't bacon. Helps me stay on my diet.