(subterranean) Street Scene
So, the 4 Train was a mess today. It happens.
I got on at Fulton Street but, owing to a delay in the tubes ahead, we sat, doors open, waiting for the obstruction to clear.
You know the circus gag with the impossibly large number of clowns streaming out of an impossibly small VW bug? A train idle at its platform, at rush hour, with its doors open, is that in reverse. Most people get to the turnstiles, see the train waiting, swipe their cards and make a mad dash for the closest available doors, in this case mine. And most people, upon being greeted by the impending closing of said doors, will make a lunge for it, occasionally propping the doors open with their children's strollers. No foolin' - I'm not sayin' it's smart or anything, just that people do it.
The Warholian-type sauntering towards the train, though, had a touch of class. He saw the doors closing, shrugged and slowed his pace, intentionally bringing everybody behind him up short. His aplomb was considerable, I thought, until, at the last minute, I saw him stick his tongue out at the train's engineer.
...and then I got stuck in Union Square waiting for the goddamned 6 train, but you know.