Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Listen to those rails a-thrumming

It's been a long time since I've been on the subway. With the new position, my office is within walking distance or bus distance. I stopped taking the train because I felt disconnected from the world whenever I was underground. Sounds funny but the subway is its own world.

So here I am underground waiting for the train that will take me to 53rd for my meeting. The first thing that struck me when I made it down to the turnstile was the stench. I forgot about what is indescribable. Oh my god, I forgot how putrid the stench is. Of course my city nose acclimates within minutes and as I write this I forget that I’m breathing in what can only be described as body excretions plus various rodent excrement.

It’s funny what we subject ourselves to on a daily basis. AS New Yorkers we become desensitized to our surroundings. That’s why I started taking the bus. On the bus, you can at least see the world and what’s happening. On the train, you go down the stairs and the sky is sunny; you walk out and it looks like Armageddon.