Peaceful Commute

An empty bus doesn't come along every day in Manhattan.  In fact, there are only 3 times a year that I can really count on a quiet, peaceful and spacious ride from the office to the train.

The first is this week, the week after Easter.  No kids, no parents, no parents who have kids who don't go to school in Manhattan.  Because if the kids are home from school, the parents are home with them.  And Easter plus Passover?  This is a wonderfully beautiful thing.

The second week is Thanksgiving.  The city is a ghost town at Thanksgiving time.  I'm, of course, not referring to the day of the parade and midtown shopping madness.  I'm talking about everywhere else.  No one is here.  You can walk down the middle of an avenue and be lucky to see another pedestrian - let alone a car or taxi.  They all go away.

The third week is the week between Christmas and New Year's.  It is phenomenally quiet.  Just the streets and (most years) snow crunching beneath your feet.  Peaceful and calm.

These are the best 3 weeks of the year for a commuter.  And this week is the last of them until Fall.

So I'm enjoying this week of calm commuting.  Luxuriating in the spacious aisles and seats of the buses and trains.  Breathing in deeply the smell of --- nothing.  No perfume, no fast food.  Just air.

It's lovely!