Monday Evening Train

Sketch by Amitai Plasse - www.amiplasse.com

So you’ve managed to muddle your way through another dull Monday morning only to find yourself dragging through an even more dreary afternoon. It’s a quarter to three, raining, and you’re already pining for a cigarette and some stale coffee from that lonely vendor at the end of the train platform.

I can relate.

I spent several years riding the rails back and fourth from a downtown suit and tie gig. Since I rode a bicycle on the warm and sunny days, most of my train memories involve bitter cold, rain, snow, ice and wind. Oh man the wind could be brutal — especially since I let that sales guy at Tip Top Tailors talk me into buying a London Fog trench coat. It was pitched as a weather-beating dynamo, but at twenty below it might as well have been made out of mesh.

The timing of the trains meant I arrived downtown about thirty minutes before I needed to start work. I would sit in the station coffee shop filling my arteries with sugar, fat, and nicotine, watching the other wage slaves performing their daily bottleneck dance — winding that hopelessly dead watch of dirty glass and tarnished brass while spilling into weary streats and taxi cabs.

My days as a commuter hobo were quiet and lonely, but peaceful (most people just slept through their daily commute). There were no distracting cellphones, WIFI or laptop computers in those days, and so I had a plenty of time to gather my thoughts and just meditate on the gentle rocking and clicking of iron wheels on my . . .

Monday Evening Train:

1. Quarter To 3 – Last Train Home [Time And Water, 2003]
2. Blue Train – Pete Wernick & Flexigrass [What The, 2007]
3. Cry Cry Cry – Matt Munisteri And Brock Mumford [Love Story, 2002]
4. Mystérieuse – Matt Munisteri And Brock Mumford [Love Story, 2002]
5. Mr. Conductor Man – Toshi Reagon [Kindness, 1997]
6. Song Of The Pipelayer – Corey Harris & Henry Butler [Vü-Dü Menz, 2000]
7. Elvis Presley Blues – Gillian Welch [Time (The Revelator), 2001]
8. Hate – Cat Power [The Greatest, 2006]
9. English Rose – The Jam [All Mod Cons, 1978]
10. Fire Song – Valorie Miller [Autumn Eyes, 2008]
11. Blank Pages – Graham Wilkinson And The Underground Township [Yearbook, 2009]

Check out this blogger who does regular sketches of passengers on the NYC subway.