Monthly Archives: April 2007

Word of the Week: PERSHING SQUARE-DANCING

Posted on April 17, 2007 by TJ

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: … Continue reading →

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Straphanger Joe Senses That Which Must Not Be Named

Posted on April 17, 2007 by TJ

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 … Continue reading →

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PeterFromPort Braves Noreaster 2007, Long Island-Style

Posted on April 17, 2007 by TJ

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 … Continue reading →

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Westchester Under Water!

Posted on April 16, 2007 by TJ

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, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Straphanger Joe Parries With Fellow Riders

Posted on April 14, 2007 by TJ

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, … Continue reading →

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Hicks on the 6

Posted on April 13, 2007 by TJ

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in 6 train, Seeger Sessions | 1 Comment

‘Mileposts’ Hits!

Posted on April 12, 2007 by TJ

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. … Continue reading →

Posted in Mileposts, String Cheese Incident | 1 Comment

The Commuter’s Magna Carta

Posted on April 12, 2007 by TJ

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Nick Paumgarten | 1 Comment

An Open Letter To:

Posted on April 11, 2007 by TJ

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 … Continue reading →

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New Riot City

Posted on April 10, 2007 by TJ

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 … Continue reading →

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