In My Place 208

July 27, 2026. 40.02388, -75.07766. See the updated map here. See all the blog posts here. The photos continue to look like shit on Blogger, click to see a better version.

I can see it in my mind: the rain beginning, then picking up speed, the hail falling sharply, the winds blowing, the lightning cracking; the tree falling at the exact angle so as to block the train tracks; a train stopping completely before crashing, stopping safely, no harm, except for the inconvenience; the radio signal back to the station, the rerouting of various train routes, the stupid decision to send one particular train down a different track, nonsensical as it is.

I can see it through my own eyes: the number for "minutes left" turn from green to orange to red; the young employee, cheerful, smiling, announcing my doom; the internal clock on the worst day of work jump up a full out; my body sagging as I slink toward an alternate mode of transportation; the rain pelting the subway car as it hits the open air and brings me toward the station crowded with the hoi polloi, all of us coming home from work, exhausted, defeated, despaired.