Subways

The journey downtown today gave me pause to think about something I spend a great deal of time on, and a great deal of time looking at... the subway.
I've realised that many of the same things are both loved and hated by me on this particular institution:

• The 181st Street Station~a startling visual going down~miserable to walk back up
• An empty A train platform~you are lulled to think you'll get a seat/you know you missed the train by seconds
• Escalators~Heaven to ride out of the depths of a deep station/miserable to walk up when dead
• The crystal tones of the announcers for the 6 train, giving times of arrival and departure/the garbled notes of so many others, when you think they've said the Z train will be leaving for West Tickfaw in 187 minutes.
• Snakes on a Plane/Drunks on a Train... pretty much the same in the annoyance level
• The Front Car~Standing there on purpose, to watch the tunnel rush towards you, having a sense of danger as you fly along/Being smashed against the same door, back to it, swearing you feel it budging open from the pressure of all those bodies behind you.
• Books~People who have a better book than you do and share a discussion of said book/People who have a better book, and pretend you don't exist if you ask about it.
• Tagging~Classic tags in sharp relief on interior tunnel walls where you are forced to admire the bravery (stupidity?) of the artist/Tagging on train windows in substances that look vaguely like human fluids.
  
• Manners~People who stand and are gracious in giving up their seats to the elderly/infirm/pregnant women. This is said for both men and women/People who jump into your seat when you stand to give it up to one of those mentioned.
  
• Journeys~The joy of an express/The misery of a local
• Metrocards~Ease of the never-ending monthly card swipe/Doing the swipe, and not having the turnstile move, causing a huge bruise on your hip area from swift, hard contact.
  

I won't take a bus, I love the deep darkness of the train, dashing in and out of the lights of the stations, racing each other.. one dropping down or going higher... the odd feeling you get when two trains pull out at the same time, and the local starts to stop...you wonder if your