From this week’s edition of Octagenarian Ladies Who Say “Isn’t New York Wonderful”…I mean, the NY Times’ “Metropolitan Diary.”

Dear Diary:

It’s 7:45 a.m. on a hot, sultry July morning. I’m standing on the platform at the Larchmont station waiting for the train to Grand Central.

I notice a girl about 17 or 18 years old wearing a sundress with a bright floral print. She looks out of place in a scene that is populated by grim-looking commuters, thumbs already moving in vigorous unison on their BlackBerries.

She’s talking to a boy of a similar age, who is wearing an ill-fitting suit. I imagine she has just finished high school and is working a summer job in the city.

As the train enters the station I catch the tail end of her conversation with the boy:

“Do people really do this for their whole lives?”

John Hull