just another day in a great big city

...for those of you who ever envy me living in New York City.

This morning, i woke groggily to a tremendous thunderstorm outside. We had a similar pounding storm a few nights ago, and it had been predicted we'd get rain all yesterday and didn't, so i wasn't concerned--and promptly went back to sleep. I woke to my new phone beeping a not-yet-familiar ring. It was my counselor calling wondering where i was...since i was 15 minutes late for our appointment.

After rescheduling with her, i rushed to get on my way to work. When i made it in record time to the train station, there was a foreboding crowd milling around the entrance. "no trains below 34th street," my familiar AM New York delivery man said. No problem. i'm getting out at 34th street. Then i got down to the train level.

The station was jam-packed, and the wipe board in the station agent's desk reported that there were major delays or cancellations on every train going from Harlem downtown. Hmmm. I swiped my card and joined the throng. It was hot.

We waited and dripped sweat and fanned ourselves with our AM New Yorks and craned over the edge to see whether the train was coming. We sighed and paced and waited and watched two uptown trains go by, forcing a welcome movement of air.

Then came a downtown train. Hurrah! And one, two, three, four...all the cars were packed like sardines. Harumph. Some ambitious riders pushed their way in. I was not so desperate. I would wait for the next train.

The next train came, just as full as the last. Annoying, but i would wait. Still dripping, feeling like the witch of the west must have felt, melting. A third train. A fourth train. No room. Time to try something else. Like a Bus? The agent told me kindly that the M7 which stopped right outside would get me to my destination.

Up to the open air, slightly cooler, sunnier, found the bus stop. Waited. An M7 came. It was so full, the driver didn't even open the doors. Hm. A second one came. Same story. Ok. As a third one rounded the corner (it is now close to 10:30. i left my apartment at 9:00) the woman next to me heads for the back, "exit-only" door where you can cram in for free. Enough riders get off that i can actually make it on this one, and there's even some breathing room. At Last!

We drive. I move to the middle. We stop, pick up more people. I am standing. Eventually there are three rows of standing passengers. I end up next to a woman in a full black Burkha, none of her body showing save her hands and her eyes behind glasses. I pray for her. It is getting hot on the bus.

We drive, stopping at nearly every block. The driver pleads "passengers, please move back so that other customers can board." There is no more room. A woman with a rich "African" (forgive me) accent says boldly, "dere is no more room! we can't move back! stop picking up new passengers! we about to faint here. if we take any more, we going to be fainting! make dis an Express Bus. no more stopping 'cept to let people off. no one get on! Express bus!" The laughter was good to release the emotional tension, if it didn't make us cooler or give us more room.

96th street. It is evident the trains are in bad shape--the corners are littered with irritated looking people. 83rd Street. 72nd. 66th. 59th--Columbus Circle. The tall man behind me decides to try for the subway. My co-worker who has been texting with me suggests i think about walking. It is 11:30.

At 47th street, the door opens and i get off, just before the madness of Times Square. I head down Broadway, weaving through throngs of tourists made heftier by the added commuters. There are three fire trucks on 42nd at the subway stop. I have my "clippety-quick" pace back, admittedly proud to be the fastest walker on the sidewalk ("i've been a Walker all my life" is my quip).

When at last i get to 36th street, 80 blocks and four miles from home, it is lunch time. i slide into PAX to get a salad to go. On the 15th floor of -- W. 36th street, the air conditioner is working after a week of being broken. i am delirious. i discover others of my coworkers just decided to stay home.

*****************

When i check my mailbox this evening, inside is a pamphlet from the "NYC Office of Emergency Management." Today wasn't a serious emergency in my neck of the woods, but a taste of the mayhem that ensues when nature proves itself bigger than our city's systems(the trains were down due to flooding from the storm). You will be happy to know, by the way, that my apartment is apparently located on a tiny rise that is significant enough to lift it out of the "evacuation zone" that creeps into harlem for several blocks.