This has never happened to me across my 20 months (has it been that freakin’ long?) on the 8:16 a.m. train. The train pulled in to Hummerville around 8:14:30 this morning, causing a few stragglers to sprint up the stairs. It chugged in to 125th around 8:50, perhaps 3 minutes earlier than it normally does.
Then that silver streak glided through Grand Central as if the Great Train Crash of 1902 had never happened, docking on the platform at 8:58–a full six minutes early.
Mind you, on the occasional day when I’m running late and take the 8:43, I’ve seen that train get in maybe four or five minutes early, surely owing to less traffic on the rails and fewer bodies climbing on board. But that 8:16, smack in the middle of New York rush hour, defied all odds and pulled in six minutes early.
I didn’t know what to do with all the extra time. I sprung for a shoeshine at Eddie’s Shoe Repair. I played a few sets at the tennis court upstairs in Grand Central (6-3, 6-1, if you’re scoring at home). I enjoyed a martini and a half (they were HUGE!) at the Campbell Apartment.
And I still got to work a few minutes early.