Friday, March 2, 2007

Rainy Day - Whatever day it is


The wall calendar says Friday. My work calendar says Monday. Whatever it is - it's miserable outside today in New York City.
UPDATE 10:45 AM: What a mess. I walked to the train station - getting completly soaked. When I arrived there were about 1,000 people waiting on the platform, in the station and on the staircases going into the station. I pushed myself over to the platform and waited. And waited. Finally after about an hour there was an announcement that a train would be there in 10 minutes and everyone should get on it because they didn't know if and when the next train would be. When the train arrived, it was already packed to the max!! Of the thousand people at my station maybe 1/3 could squeeze on. Maybe. I thought about shoving myself ahead of the pack - I am surprisingly good at that - but didn't for a number of reasons. 1) It would not make me a popular guy with those who arrived before me 2) I imagine most of the people there at my Harlem station had jobs where they would be fired or docked pay for being late. I saw real panic in people's eyes as they waited on the train. I'm sure most of them need every single dollar they earn. If I shoved my way ahead - I could be taking the space of someone who's very livelihood depends on making it to their job, and 3) I am so very lucky that I can work from home under special circumstances. I have all my work on my laptop so it is easy to be so generous to my fellow travelers when I have the option of going home, getting out of my wet clothes and working out of my apartment. I feel bad for the 2/3 of the folks who didn't get on that train and I hope they eventually get to where they need to be. As for me, I'm sipping tea, trying to dry off and warm up (this New York rain really chills you to the bone!) and getting a lot done in my quiet and dry apartment.

No comments: