Fox train to Brooklyn

On my in this morning I was thinking I didn’t have much to write about and I was disappointed since I have been doing very well at keeping up posts. I had a pretty good night nothing out of the ordinary; came home, walked dog, moved car, met dad for dinner (it was his birthday), met David after dinner (to go out for his birthday), and went to bed too late. Nothing of note to talk about really.

But then this morning on the F train in we stopped at Jay Street where the A and C trains comes across the platform. And I was reading my book and all of a sudden the conductor to the subway train comes over the loud speaker “Waiting for a connection! Waiting for a connection, A train coming on Center platform”. And I though to myself no one does that, first of all they usually just sit there with the doors wide open you know just hanging out for no good reason, possibly with in the 10 – 15 minutes you are sitting there some vague descriptions of “congestion ahead” or “ momentarily being held in the station” might come across the scratchy system while you sit there wonder what the hell is actually happening. And the trains certainly never wait for each other, it is almost soul crushing when you are on the train and you pull into your stop and you see that the transfer train you need is right there and you can get on and continue on your way with out having to sit in the station waiting. This is an amazing fleeting feeling of hope that the train is RIGHT THERE! So you stand against the doors getting ready to propel your self forward from your train to the one you need, then the conductor keeps your trains doors shut just long enough for that train you need to close its doors and leave the station. Thanks buddy. Or the best is when you get off of you train and within the seconds it takes you to cross the 30 foot platform the transfer trains doors close in your face and it starts its way out of the station without you. Usually this happens too frequently during the late night service when the trains come once every millennium to take you home (read: its probably really more like once and hour, but it sure feels like a lifetime when all you can think about is getting home and crawling in to bed to go to sleep).

But not the guy who I had this morning, he takes his job seriously (possibly a little too seriously). It made me realize how you tune out the daily mundane announcements on the trains but when you have someone who takes the time to make it personal or something that they seem to genuinely enjoy it really does help to start the day right. Sometimes I get a conductor who will wish that we all have a good day, or that we stay warm in the cold weather, and there is the one guy who when you are up near the 40’s will give you a little bit of trivia for each station you come to. Then there is my favorite guy, in the 3 years I have lived here I have only gotten on his train two times. One time was when I was interning here at PDN magazine during the summer of my junior to senior year of college and Cate came to visit. He closes the door (and I promise you my description will not do it justice because it definitely needs to have an audible example given) and he comes on the loud speaker and says each time” FOX TRAIN TO BROOKLYN__west 4th stop___ Neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeext”. It’s truly amazing.