Another 100 People Just Got Offa the Train

Whenever the 2/3 and 1 subway cars are at the 42nd Street platform simultaneously and the doors open I never look upon my fellow commuters as people, but rather as moving obstacles to get through, by, around. It is just a maze of moving flesh down there and becomes more about survival than people watching.

But in this salmon run quest to get up for air, I happened down this one narrow bit and this guy paused the other way to let me by. We smiled at each other as if doffing hats. It was a brief moment of civility that always seems to happen in New York amidst the frantic craziness of commuting. It is this glimpse, this moment, that reminds me why I love it here.

And like the above photo which I took right after the embarking melee, the swarming platform is a ghost town in seconds.