i haven't talked about trains recently. perhaps you've missed it? perhaps not.

perhaps it is because (after a year and a half of commuting to work) i have discovered a way to play the trains which gets me somewhat reliably to work in 45 minutes rather than a whole hour. this means that i spend less time on the trains and therefore see fewer things.

i have also been commuting with my ipod on which makes me less aware of the idiosyncracies (read: people) around me. it's alienating, yes, but it's also protection. i can pretend that i can't hear the incredibly personal conversation the person next to me is yelling into their cell phone.

today on the platform there was a man playing some sort of instrument along to a recording. he had all the melody and the speaker was covering the background music. when i reached the platform, he was playing the theme to titanic and it is perhaps indicative of my mood that i thought to myself that the melody to that song isn't half bad.

then he moved on to "moonriver." an old song with a very simple melody, but still somehow moving. it moved me to take my headphones out of my ears, at any rate.

and, as we waited for the next train, it moved the couple next to me to begin waltzing.

even the most jaded of new yorkers would have smiled to see it.