Not Only Public Transportation

I'm beginning to think that it is lower Manhattan and not just public transportation. Let me explain


I went to court today. I parked my car in a secondary lot that I use, as my usual lot was full and I couldn't get in. I told the attendant I would be a half hour or all day, depending on whether I had to run into Brooklyn. In the end, I spent the whole day waiting on one case and didn't get out of court until 4 PM.


Now I drive a black car of the Honda family, so when I got to the lot, I gave the guy my ticket. He looked at the ticket and said "Hyundai". I was a bit distracted looking over the near empty lot for my car, and not seeing it. But then it registered what he said, and I corrected him. He said it again, I corrected him again, getting a little nervous that I couldn't see my car.

Then he gets in a WHITE car, and says "this one's yours". I told him AGAIN no, I drive a BLACK car.

And then it hit me.

I took my mother in law's WHITE Hyundai to work today.

Maybe I SHOULD take the bus.

Public Transportation 2

Interesting things happen to me whenever I go downtown for CLEs. Last year it was the bus, this year its the train. Here is the story.

I took the train to go to a CLE class in Manhattan (remember this, its important) this morning. I got on a very crowded Q train at 42nd Street. At the next stop, 34th Street, the strangest thing happened. Almost the entire train of people going to work got off. Then the train filled up with people who did not look like the type of workers who worked in midtown offices. There were coffee cups and some casual business attire, but a different group.  Then at the next stop, 14th Street, almost the entire car emptied out again!

This time the car did not fill up, but the people that did get on looked even scruffier and less inclined to be going to work than the previous bunch. I sat there thinking about this until Canal Street, where I switched to the N to go to Whitehall Street.

As I got on the N, with dreams of a blog forming in my head, I realized three things, not all right away. The first was that the days of Giuliani and clean subway cars were gone, as the car was basically empty at the side I got on, except for a couple of homeless people, Secondly, the second homeless guy, the one not all bundled up and sleeping, was reading a couple of newspapers like some big business tycoon, and the third thing I realized, after I sat down and the doors closed and I looked up at the schedule of stops, was that

The N train goes from Canal Street to Brooklyn. Express

So here I am, no longer on time, going into the bowels of Brooklyn on a ten minute stop, with no recourse. Sure enough, I turned around, went back on the R to Whitehall, and showed up half an hour later than I  should have, and like last year, running down Water Street to not be late for something. Which might not have happened if  I would have actually been paying attention to things instead of looking for material to entertain all of you.

The sacrifices I make for all of you and my craft.