Tuesday, July 31st

Last day of July: how can that be?

Beautiful, light blue skies. 75 degrees.

Left the house at 8:14am.

N: Cloudless skies meant only a few "brave" commuters actually left the protection of the station's awning for the outer reaches of the platform and into the uninterrupted sunlight. I was enveloped by the marvelous solar warmth as I strolled slowly to the end of the practically-abandoned platform.

Then, as quickly as sparks emit from under a passing subway car, a clique of commuters encircled me. "Where the hell...?" I asked myself as I looked back to see not a single other person between the dark shadow being cast by the rusted station roof and the impromptu gathering huddled too close for comfort. Just as I tried to ignore the other bodies radiating early summer morning heat, the train came screaming around the bend and the Astorians scattered to position themselves infront of their favorite door on the train.

Rest of the ride was Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows.

7: Train came after a few mintues on the platform. It was a little croweded, but filled with amusing kinds of people: A petite Latin woman stood easily one foot under the stretched-out arms of a bugged-eyed Middle Eastern man, a tiny Asian toddler bellowed mercilessly from the other end of the car, a sleepy, youthful blonde clutched her tote for balance.

G: To put it the nice way, morning G train riders are like water: they find the fastest escape route possible. Meaning, if you have a staircase bisected by a railing, creating 4 possible lanes of traffic (2 lanes up, 2 lanes down), morning G train riders will use all 4 lanes. This means those poor reverse commuters (a.k.a. myself) feel like salmon attempting to jump up the waterfall.

But, this little fishy has finally learned, after 5 months of facing this reverse commute, to stand my ground, remain in my lane and use my purse as defense...

Once on the train, the rest of the ride was Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows.