Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Scary Subway Ride
The ride to work today was SO COOL!!! Today the doors opened to the N train and I entered a car without electricity. Generally when I enter a car in Mid Summer and there's no A/C, I get out at the next stop and move to a "cooler" car. In Mid November A/C is not a factor but the lights are...I could tell that the lights were out when I entered the car. However, it didn't matter too much because the subway is above ground in Queens. So, the sunlight adequately lit the car.
We were on our merry way UNITIL we hit the tunnel. Now we are submerged in darkness. There are quick flashes of light darting through the car from the tunnel safety lights creating a strobe effect. It looked like a cross between Madonna's Ray of Light video and a dozen horror movies I've seen. I thought it was fantastic.
There was complete silence. Nobody said a word. Most people tried to continue what they were doing before it went dark. I noticed a lady continuing to stare at her newspaper as if she could make out the words on the paper. Most just stared at the ground. I wanted to scream and run through the car just for fun. Instead I chose to stare at the others. Then the tunnel lights disappeared and the car went completely black. That's when it got a little uncomfortable. It doesn't feel good to sit in the dark in New York City. Maybe it's the movies or maybe it's the news but for whatever reason, the ride had gone too far.
And then it ended. The train approached Lexington Ave. I exited and went up the escalator to enter a well lit 6 train. Although, I was relieved that nothing scary actually happened on the train, today's commute was better than coffee.
We were on our merry way UNITIL we hit the tunnel. Now we are submerged in darkness. There are quick flashes of light darting through the car from the tunnel safety lights creating a strobe effect. It looked like a cross between Madonna's Ray of Light video and a dozen horror movies I've seen. I thought it was fantastic.
There was complete silence. Nobody said a word. Most people tried to continue what they were doing before it went dark. I noticed a lady continuing to stare at her newspaper as if she could make out the words on the paper. Most just stared at the ground. I wanted to scream and run through the car just for fun. Instead I chose to stare at the others. Then the tunnel lights disappeared and the car went completely black. That's when it got a little uncomfortable. It doesn't feel good to sit in the dark in New York City. Maybe it's the movies or maybe it's the news but for whatever reason, the ride had gone too far.
And then it ended. The train approached Lexington Ave. I exited and went up the escalator to enter a well lit 6 train. Although, I was relieved that nothing scary actually happened on the train, today's commute was better than coffee.
