Entertainment on the Train

I've ridden the El pretty much every day during the week, and fairly often on the weekends too, for nearly 4 years. In that time, I have noticed that there is a significant difference between commute riders and weekend riders.

Weekend riders are there for fun, they often travel in packs. Loud and boisterous packs. They're dressed to go out! Or, if they're riding solo, often they will hold scintillating conversations on their phones. You can often learn a lot about this type of rider.

On the other hand, commuters are much much quieter. For the most part, they don't talk to anybody; they don't look at anybody. They're lost in their ear-buds or buried in a book. The majority of the time, commuters are there to just get wherever they are going. When the train gets super crowded, to deal with being shoved cheek to jowl, they like to pretend they are alone in the train - if they don't make eye contact or acknowledge anyone, it's almost like the offending invader-of-personal-space is not there!

I have to admit, I fall very solidly into the latter category. I get secret amusement from weekend riders, but I'm totally the pretend-you're-alone-and-the-others-aren't-there type of rider. However, secretly I'm a people watcher, so if an opportunity arises, I often take carefully casual notice.

For example, this morning, the cutest little girl (probably around 5 or 6yrs old) and her dad got on and sat in the seat right in front of mine. The dad looked half asleep and the little girl seemed really excited and climbed up into an empty seat, turning around so her little nose was practically pressed up against the window. She took off her winter hat and her curly hair was all tousled. She had the biggest brown eyes and adorable chubby cheeks and looked around so quietly, and solemnly, and with the soft morning light coming in through the window, I couldn't help but glance at her from the corner of my eye. You could almost imagine she'd be the perfect model for a baby-faced, early morning angel picture, she was that adorable.

For a few minutes, she looked out the window, then she looked at me and smiled a shy, little smile. Then she returned her gaze back out the window. Then, she reached up with her tiny little finger and plucked a booger from her nose.

That totally made my commute.. heh. Since I don't take pictures of stranger's children (even if they're picking their noses) you'll just have to use this as an aid for your imagination.
Ah, People-watching. You gotta take the good with the funny :)