Thanksgiving Eve, AKA Rookie Day

Today is Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. What is it that people do today? They travel. They go see their loved ones. And how do they get there? By any means possible. This includes the Long Island Rail Road. 

Normally, I take the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off, but not this year. I’m hoarding my vacation time. As a result, I’m taking the train home right now, sailing the sea of cluelessness.

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Winter Commuting: What NOT To Wear

The weather's been all over the place lately. Freezing cold one day, 60 F the next. You never know how to dress. But don't worry. TTIV cannot guide you on what you SHOULD wear, but certainly can help you with what NOT to wear. When the weather gets cold, everyone starts to bulk up. Bulking up creates seating challenges on the train. The aim of today's blog post is to lay out some guidelines to help alleviate those challenges.

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Sleeping Past Your Stop, A Reader's Story

Readers: Are you familiar with the "Patch" websites? These sites share community news and interesting stories with readers, and my blog posts are sometimes distributed there. Today's TTIV post is a story related to me by Marv, a Patch Reader from Plainview. He read my story, "Slept Past My Stop. A Lesson Learned," and related his own similar tale.

I get some of my best sleep on the train. A fallout of this is sleeping past my stop, which I've done on multiple occasions. Usually, it's not that big a deal. When it happens, I can walk around to the other platform, wait a bit, and a train will soon come. But then there was the day I slept REALLY well.

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The Commuter of the Day: Bongo Man

Recently, I sat across the aisle from a musician. He had a bongo, and he wasn't afraid to play it. All the way from Penn Station to Mineola, where he got off. He sat in that seat for the whole ride, headphones on, big grin, eyes closed, working out that bongo.

The funniest part, at least to me anyway, was the guy sitting next to him who barely even gave a glance. Clearly a veteran of the rails.

In fairness, Bongo Man was considerate. He did not bang hard on the drum so as to disturb everyone around him. But it's not often that you see a guy wailing away on his percussion instrument on the 7:11 PM to Ronkonkoma.

Note: These men did not really have green faces

**

Happy and safe commuting, and may you encounter uncommon sense.

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Twitter: @davidrtrainguy

email: thetrain.invain.829@gmail.com

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The Peeves of Octavius

Did that title get your attention? No, this isn't about Roman charioteers getting to and from the Circus Maximus. Today's TTIV entry is a guest contribution from a friend who has many commuting peeves. He shared a few with me. He prefers to be anonymous, so we'll call him "Octavius."

Many things about the commute bother me, but lately some have bugged me to no end. Here are my top three.

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Arriving In Cold Jamaica

Conductor over PA: "Now arriving in Jamaica. Unfortunately not the one with palm trees and Bob Marley. Have a nice weekend."

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High Stakes Platform Roulette

What do Las Vegas, Atlantic City, your local OTB, and the Long Island Rail Road have in common? Thrilling gambling! Odds in your favor! The chance to win big! The distinct possibility of losing your shirt!

You're probably wondering how the Long Island Rail Road fits into this category. In today's blog post, we'll explore "Platform Roulette," a challenging game of skill and chance. The rules are simple. You wait on the platform, hoping to be directly in front of the doors when the train stops.

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Strange Things On The Tracks... And In My Head

When I'm standing on the platform waiting for my train, I often scan the tracks looking at the debris people left behind. When the train takes a long time to arrive, my mind begins to wander about the debris. Sometimes I come up with absurd ideas. Absurd ideas that make for good blogging. 

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Excuse Me, Did That Sandwich Come With Complimentary Noseplugs?

On the train, woman next to me is eating the most foul-smelling sandwich. I'm guessing it's a chopped liver, onions, and armpit on rye.

The good news is that when she finishes, there's another half in her bag.

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Perfume Karma

I got on the train today and found a great seat. The woman in the adjacent seat respected the boundaries, and there was no duct tape anywhere to create a sticky mess on my clothes. Score! I sat down and got comfortable.

I noticed that the woman was wearing perfume. A reasonably attractive perfume. And then, I realized that she was wearing a lot of it. My nose started to burn. My eyes started to water. I'm not a highly allergic person, but when things trigger the allergies, they trigger them in a grand way.

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Miscellaneous Irritants Of The Day

You may have noticed I haven't posted in about a week. I've been suffering from a case of writer's block. It's hard to believe I've had nothing to say about the train for this long. But today, I'm back.

If you've been following for a while, you understand the importance of things going just right on my commute. It means so much to me. When frustrating things happen, I log those events. Sometimes I report them to you immediately, and sometimes keep them on ice until there's enough to make an interesting post.  I'm ready to share a few of my pet irritants.

Speaking of irritants, the woman next to me is blabbering on her phone. She's hiring two photographers and they've sorted out the menu for the event. Thank goodness. Happy Bar Mitzvah, Louis.

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