I took the el today for the first time this year. Wait, let me think for a second. Yeah. I’m pretty sure it was the first time of ‘08.
I used to take the el and bus all the time. Growing up in the city, it was just a part of life. I’m surprised how little it’s changed. Sure, you have the electronic fare cards and some service changes but standing on the Harlem platform of the blue line in the middle of the Kennedy expressway with cars trudging forward on either side of you in rush hour traffic sure felt familiar.
People seem paler somehow on the subway. Yeah, it’s the lighting and the metal and lack of warm decor but they seem more dead to me. They just sit or stand there while being propelled forward in this steel cannister.
Of course, I’m comparing this morning to my regular commute on my Harley where I can go anywhere and it feels like flying. On my bike, I just zip down the side streets all the way from the northwest side to Damen and Harrison. If there are more than two cars in front of me I just turn and go zipping down another street. It’s fascinating to watch the neigborhoods change as I go south then east then south some more. It’s like moving through the pages of a socio-economics book. It’s full of life.
Anyway, I forgot what it was like to sit so close to someone and have to keep my belongings or myself for that matter from spilling over the midline between two connected seats. I remember what it was like to hope that someone cute would take the empty seat next to me. Yeah, this morning someone rather attractive chose to be my commuting partner. She was nice.
To be continuted… maybe…
