Archive for April, 2007
Tuesday, April 17th, 2007
Word of the Week: Pershing Square-Dancing
PERSHING SQUARE-DANCING \PERSHing Skware DANSing\ verb: The anxious hopping in place and repeated staring at wristwatch practiced by commuters when they’re late for the train and pondering bolting through traffic in front of Grand Central while waiting for the light to change.
Usage: The guy next to me on 42nd was doing some serious Pershing Square-dancing, so I guess he […]
2 Comments » - Posted in Word of the Week by TJ
Tuesday, April 17th, 2007
Straphanger Joe Senses That Which Must Not Be Named
It’s Coming
I’ve been looking for it.
The tell-tale signs of it coming, like paperback versions of the earlier books in the series appearing in people’s hands, spines bent and edges worn. These are the people brushing up on what happened in the last book so they can be prepared for the new one. Oh, it’s […]
No Comments » - Posted in Straphanger Joe by TJ
Tuesday, April 17th, 2007
PeterFromPort Braves Noreaster 2007, Long Island-Style
A plague of locusts, an alien landing, even your garden-variety meteor strike–these are all acceptable reasons for one of the nation’s busiest rail systems to suffer bible-scale delays.
But rain, even at the level we experienced Monday? I don’t get it. It’s as if the Founding Commuting Fathers figured a heavy cloud cover was as […]
No Comments » - Posted in LIRR, PeterFromPort by TJ
Monday, April 16th, 2007
Westchester Under Water!
Tuckahoe flooded! People boating down the main drag in Mamaroneck! 60 minute delays on the Harlem line! 950 parking spaces submerged at the North White Plains station!
My in-box was as flooded with MTA Advisories this morning as Westchester itself.
Mercifully, I’m 100 feet above the Vegas desert, and the only train I’m taking is the surprisingly handy […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Uncategorized by TJ
Saturday, April 14th, 2007
Straphanger Joe Parries With Fellow Riders
Do You Fence?
“Excuse me,” someone says, leaning towards me, too close for my comfort.
I look up carefully. It’s a man with salt and pepper hair, a day’s growth of beard, wearing jeans and a black thermal vest, holding a navy bag against his chest. He’s in his fifties. His glasses rise up against the […]
No Comments » - Posted in Fencing, Straphanger Joe by TJ
Friday, April 13th, 2007
Hicks on the 6
Caught a fun bit of subway theater on the 6 train yesterday. A family of olive-skinned tourists–parents, two teen sons and a teen girl–were sitting at the end of the car when a pair of street singers busted in.
Two older black guys sang a very impassioned version of “Mary Don’t You Weep,” with a completely […]
1 Comment » - Posted in 6 train, Seeger Sessions by TJ
Thursday, April 12th, 2007
‘Mileposts’ Hits!
The new issue of MTA publication Mileposts landed on seats today. Frankly, it lacks some of the sly wit that’s defined past issues. The lead story, titled “Handsome Really Is As Handsome Does,” is all about dual-mode locomotives getting overhauled. To be honest, unless you’re Engine Bob or something, it’s an express train to Dullsville.
In […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Mileposts, String Cheese Incident by TJ
Thursday, April 12th, 2007
The Commuter’s Magna Carta
Nick Paumgarten has written the Magna Carta of commuting in the new New Yorker, an eight-page tome with the added bonus of a Campari ad featuring the sultry Salma Hayek smack in the middle.
Among the gems he offers up in “There and Back Again” is something I’ve been meaning to write about since Trainjotting was […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Nick Paumgarten by TJ
Wednesday, April 11th, 2007
An Open Letter To:
Metro-North.
For my entire six months of commuting, I took the 8:17 in the morning. It took months, but finally the number became burned into my memory cells. Yet it was more than one number I’d remembered. It was an entire series that comprised my morning routine: 7:45, shower. 8:02, kiss the Missus and Little G and leave […]
No Comments » - Posted in 8:17, Open Letter by TJ
Tuesday, April 10th, 2007
New Riot City
There was a bit of an incident, shall we say, in New Rochelle Sunday evening that spread onto the Metro-North trains. A pack of youths, numbering as much as a thousand, were told to leave New Roc City, which is this giant entertainment complex, featuring go-karts, a carousel, skating rink and an arcade, after they became […]