Groovy Concrete

This is my train.  Note the closed doors and the blur as it speeds by me while I stand on the platform.  Yes, I missed the train tonight - and just to make it worse, it was the Friday night train.  It was most painful.

So, what do you do when you miss the train?  Well, I sit there.  And then I stand for a bit.  Then I walk around the platform awhile.  Then I sit some more.  Then I take a few pictures.

And I stare at the platform.  It's made of concrete with deep grooves for the water and ice to drain off.

The grooves aren't consistant.  Some are wider and some narrower.  They aren't perfect straight either.  I think that they were made with a broom after the concrete was laid down and screed.  The grooves also allow for expansion and contraction in the concrete so the water won't break it - that's why they put those marks in the sidewalks.  If you don't give water a place to go, it will find it's own way - and it will usually be a very expensive repair.

There were 736 lines in the concrete in front of the bench that I was sitting on.  I thought you'd want to know that so I took the time to count them.

In Manhattan, you pretty much only get to walk on concrete.  The grass is for looking at - not for touching.  And I haven't found any other surface (except for asphalt) that you walk on.  Maybe there is the occasional slab of marble here and there.

When we moved to our bucolic manor, the first thing I did was go out and walk barefoot in the lawn.  I felt like I was breaking the lawn or something and I loved every minute of it.

Every morning on my way to work, the supers of the buildings are outside hosing down the sidewalks in front of the buildings.  It's like walking through an obstacle course - dodge the hose, hop over the puddles, hurdle the water spray.  My DH says they do it because it keeps the sidewalks clean and makes the concrete last longer.

So, concrete.  Yup.

I can't believe I missed the train...