Day 2: Subway Faces

Waking up this morning was a little challenging. I'll run you through ...

Alarm, snooze, tissues galore...headache, stuffed nose, but somehow oddly a very runny nose, watery eyes, weak and achy...

yes, I have a cold :(

No boring details of the glamourous adventure of getting ready while having my head feel as if it is being squeezed through a small pipe. Pulled myself together and out I go.

( did I mention I had a permanent pillow mark?, well I did, I may still)

So the faces, right...for a second I could see a whole piece on pillows, even colds but that would be boring...subway faces on the other hand is interesting..( still just speaking to me, so to me it's interesting...awaiting the comments)

The walk to the subway was odd in itself. The cold symptoms did not help. Usually I arrive at work with a feeling of time travel. My route is so routine that I am convinced I could do it blindfolded and be good at it. There are days when I feel as if I was dropped in my seat, given my coffee and that the lights turned themselves on. I actually do not remember the steps down or up the stairs. ( If only the bad moments were forgotten so willingly)

The usual 3 people I see at the same time every morning were not there...not one. Weird. They are always there.

I see the same 3 people every day walking, on the escalator, on the platform and on MY train.

1-Male, 45 ish tall, well dressed and ALWAYS with a coffee ( must be my soulmate ....) very focused and always peeking in anticipation of the next train....the posture changes as the train approaches, a certain rush of energy and eagerness as the train arrives.  He is always proud that he has managed to stand exactly where the train stops. I know this because there is a shuffle as the train enters, the exact calculation and then reward as the train doors are on either side of him, he nods just prior to entering the train. Stands, faces the glass which later becomes a mirror. What is he thinking? I always wonder, who stares at themselves for 6 stations ( I get off at the 6th ) It would be rude to ask, who asks? I would love to ask...but I've done that too and I think of stuff like dinner menu and if I have enough laundry change to finally do my whites, so that answers my question, he probably thinks of that too, nothing.

2- Female, 20 ish, petite, soft features, looks older that she really is, sad. She looks tired and I think she is struggling with something. She's always on the 2nd bench sitting on the south side staring at the awful coloured tiles. Looks up as one walks by, we smiled a few times at one another. I smiled warmly, she out of obligation.  Pre-occupied...but aren't we all, us "city folk". 

Regardless I'm nosy enough to people watch...obviously, and then think about it obsessively throughout the ride and sometimes throughout the day. What happened, what is happening which quickly changes to times in my life when I felt like that, looked like that and then in vain I think...what do people think? 

We enter different carts, we are on our own, she has no idea that there is someone in the next cart wondering if she is ok...hoping. Perhaps a comfort for me is to know that I think of her and wish her well.

3- Woman 30 ish, my favourite. Tall, fit and well dressed. Business woman, suit always pressed, pantyhose even in the hot summer months ( a real lady) Walks with confidence and poise.

I've seen her do the following:

Pick up other peoples newspapers off the train floor and take them in her purse to the garbage on the platform as she exits at her stop.

Stand in 3" heels without holding on once as the train wobbles left and right ( I was sitting and had to tighten my grip to avoid becoming friends with my seated neighbour)

Run in the same heels at full speed with the briefcase and a traveller mug...amazing!

...and numerous other "wonder woman" stunts all in pristine attire.

Can I just say this...etiquette is everything. As Johnny says to Baby in Dirty Dancing " this is my dance space and this is your dance space"

People, respect eachother's space. If your subway neighbour is so close that an onlooker may thing that he/she is your lover than you are way to close. Back up!! Off topic but had to be said.

Indeed, the pillow mark is gone.

Tomorrow's Topic:

Money and everything else.