I’m pleased to report that, as of today, someone has moved the big stack of freebie Metro papers from the top of the stairs heading down to the 4-5-6 train in Grand Central. These papers had long been a source of agita–just as a few thousand people are trucking along, making good time on their commute en route to the staircase, some dolt at the head of the stairs pauses to decide whether they want to read about Heath Ledger’s untimely demise–then further clogs the works by struggling to separate one Metro from the stack.

It’s sort of like placing a giant bucket of M&Ms at the entrance to the highway. You’re rolling along, making good time in visiting the in-laws, when suddenly the car in front of you stops so the driver can reach his filthy paw into this bucket of chocolate delights, then has to sift through what he’s pulled out to separate the peanut from the almond, the red from the yellow.

(Speaking of M&Ms, we just got back from a disappointing visit to the M&M store in Vegas; we schlepped through three floors, encountered every conceivable shiny tourist bauble emblazoned with an ‘M&M’ logo, sat through a supposedly “3D” movie about M&Ms, and received not a single free sample for our travails. Not one. Thanks.)

Someone has moved the Metro stack about 10 feet to the right, where they’re now in reach of those going up the escalator and entering Grand Central–a group that has already embarked on their morning’s subway ride and presumably has a lesser sense of urgency.

Amen to that.