"M" is for mystery

Got to the C&E tracks this morning at Penn Station and had to wait several minutes. Instead of a C or an E, we got an M train. It seemed to be heading south, so I got on, even though the sign on the outside said it was going to Jamaica. It is one of the new breed of subway cars that has marquee signs that tell you what station will be next. However, this morning, the marquee just flashed useless information like listen to messages from the crew. That would have been nice if the crew had been calling stops or, otherwise, telling us anything. At West 4th, a lot of us got out, and the train just sat there for several minutes. One could picture the crew looking at maps and deciding what is next. Finally, they announced that the train would move on to Spring and Canal streets. When I got out at Canal, I noticed that there was an F train on the A tracks. Welcome to MTA's Wonderful World or Reduced Service.

Quiet on the set

The other day I was crossing Hudson Street at Reade to pick up salads from one of the hot and cold buffets that feed Tribeca and I noticed that a film crew was setting up massive equipment. Feature films and TV shows are filmed here all the time. Last year I walked up to a street fair that was not a street fair - it was a set for a Jennifer Lopez movie. More recently, there was a group of African Americans filling the intersection of White and West Broadway. A crew member told me that they were filming a commercial for the Census Bureau. "A likely story," I thought, but then I saw the commercial. This time, I got a picture of the action and checked with a crew member to see what this was. Turned out to be a commercial for E-Harmony.

Friday festivities

I got off this morning at the Canal Street station and walked to West Broadway where, to my surprise, a street fair was setting up shop for the weekends. It ran 3 blocks to Leonard Street from Beach. I went out after 11 and checked the whole thing out. About two thirds of the booths were food - lots of shish kebab, italian sausage, crepes - all of your major temptations and it smelled good. I finally settled on lamb kebab and brought it back to work. The food at the kebab place was better than their spelling.

At Ground Zero

This morning I drove myself to the train station - that means I have to go way early to get a decent parking spot and take the 7:02 to Penn. That leaves me with time to burn when I hit Penn Station. I took the E train all the way to World Trade Center - mainly to stop back at Whole Foods, but I paused at the Freedom Tower today. I've complained about the slow pace of this, but at least we now have something to look at.

Taking the A train

Yesterday, I'd taken the 7:02 train to Penn, so I had time to burn. I took the A train, which only has 4 stops to Chambers Street. I young girl, maybe 8 or 9 was sitting on my left. She got up at West 4th street and unwittingly dropped her little purse. I scooped it up and got her attention before she left the car. A "thank you" would have been nice.

UPS

I recently went to the UPS store on Broadway to ship out some slides to be digitized in California. A woman walked up the the counter wanting directions to the nearest post office. They directed her to a branch at the federal courthouse. Just at that time, their mail man walked in - he laughed and said "People should use us. We're cheaper."