It was a couple of weeks before Christmas. I was in the subway headed towards downtown, meeting some friends at a bar. Santa got into the train and made his way to the empty seat right next to me. I looked at him and smiled.
“You’re the skinniest Santa I’ve ever seen”, I said.
“It’s almost 2008 dude,” he replied, “Santa has to be in shape”.
I couldn’t agree more.
“So, what would you like for Christmas?” asked Santa.
“World peace” I replied, completely dead pan and we both laughed out loud.
We arrived at the 14th Street station and Santa got up.
“Santa needs a lot more beers. Ho! Ho! Ho!” he announced and got off the subway.
It was around 10 pm and thankfully there were no kids around.
This was last week. A South East Asian couple was sitting directly in front of me. He had his hair down to his shoulders and she had it as short as a boy’s. He wore earrings in both ears, a bracelet, necklace and several rings. She wore no jewelry. Thankfully he wasn’t wearing make-up and neither was she. Every 30 seconds they kissed each other. They shared the same iPod. They were dressed almost exactly alike – black Tshirts with cut off sleeves and tight, tight jeans. When I got off the train it was time for the 30 second kiss.
African-American male. Probably in his 30s. Sleeveless Tshirt and shorts. Arms and legs completely covered with tattoos. Wearing at least 10 different kinds of beads around his neck and a few around his wrist. Not a care in the world.
Overweight couple. Daughter wearing pink. Definitely tourists!
Indian IT nerd – glasses, mustache, Lee jeans and clunky gym shoes. Probably new in the city. Hopefully 6 months here will make him more stylish. More likely to move to New Jersey.
Big homeless man sleeping. Long hair, long beard. Unkept, unclean, uncared. Noone around him because of the unpleasant odor.
The Jackson 5 impersonators. Father and four sons (supposedly) – big Afro hair, unbuttoned polyester shirts, songs from the 70s. Made quite an impression on the commuters and quite a packet I must say!
A group of office colleagues returning from a sporting event. Drunk, loud and obnoxious. They could very well have been my friends and I in any part of the world!
The three white bald guys - same height, same size, looked exactly alike – triplets or generic white men?
The Hispanic mother and daughter that kept laughing about something the entire time. They would say something in Spanish and burst out laughing. There were bouts of giggling followed by unashamed loud laughs. I had no clue what was so funny but it definitely made me smile.
Never a dull moment in the New York City subways. Just keep your eyes and ears open!
“You’re the skinniest Santa I’ve ever seen”, I said.
“It’s almost 2008 dude,” he replied, “Santa has to be in shape”.
I couldn’t agree more.
“So, what would you like for Christmas?” asked Santa.
“World peace” I replied, completely dead pan and we both laughed out loud.
We arrived at the 14th Street station and Santa got up.
“Santa needs a lot more beers. Ho! Ho! Ho!” he announced and got off the subway.
It was around 10 pm and thankfully there were no kids around.
This was last week. A South East Asian couple was sitting directly in front of me. He had his hair down to his shoulders and she had it as short as a boy’s. He wore earrings in both ears, a bracelet, necklace and several rings. She wore no jewelry. Thankfully he wasn’t wearing make-up and neither was she. Every 30 seconds they kissed each other. They shared the same iPod. They were dressed almost exactly alike – black Tshirts with cut off sleeves and tight, tight jeans. When I got off the train it was time for the 30 second kiss.
African-American male. Probably in his 30s. Sleeveless Tshirt and shorts. Arms and legs completely covered with tattoos. Wearing at least 10 different kinds of beads around his neck and a few around his wrist. Not a care in the world.
Overweight couple. Daughter wearing pink. Definitely tourists!
Indian IT nerd – glasses, mustache, Lee jeans and clunky gym shoes. Probably new in the city. Hopefully 6 months here will make him more stylish. More likely to move to New Jersey.
Big homeless man sleeping. Long hair, long beard. Unkept, unclean, uncared. Noone around him because of the unpleasant odor.
The Jackson 5 impersonators. Father and four sons (supposedly) – big Afro hair, unbuttoned polyester shirts, songs from the 70s. Made quite an impression on the commuters and quite a packet I must say!
A group of office colleagues returning from a sporting event. Drunk, loud and obnoxious. They could very well have been my friends and I in any part of the world!
The three white bald guys - same height, same size, looked exactly alike – triplets or generic white men?
The Hispanic mother and daughter that kept laughing about something the entire time. They would say something in Spanish and burst out laughing. There were bouts of giggling followed by unashamed loud laughs. I had no clue what was so funny but it definitely made me smile.
Never a dull moment in the New York City subways. Just keep your eyes and ears open!
3 comments:
awesome!!!
What fun! The New York subway seems to be a microcosm of the planet! I assume you don't use it too regularly, or you would have seen many more interesting people...
I esp enjoyed this one. I love subways....
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