Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 2012

We went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this year.  It was only a three block walk to get to it on 6th Avenue.  We should've gone earlier so we could get to the front of the crowd, since we're short, but we didn't…

It was still fun, but being short we couldn't see most of the marching bands, clowns and performers from where we were.  I didn't realize there was so much more than the famous, giant balloons…

If we go next year, we'll try to go earlier in the morning so we can get right up front and see everything better.

We first went to 6th Avenue & 49th Street, but then moved up to 50th Street with its wider plaza giving more space for the crowd.

4 Train to Work

Well, that was an adventurous subway commute to work...  It went smooth until the last leg of the commute, on the 4 train. It ground to a sudden halt somewhere between Franklin Ave. and Utica Ave. in Crown Heights.  Sudden enough that in my wool coat I slid along the bench a little ways.

After quite a while without moving, the conductor got on the intercom and said that the emergency brake on the train had been activated and once they found the problem and fixed it we'd be moving again.

We stopped there for about half an hour.  MTA personnel in hard hats and bright orange vests could be seen walking around outside the train.  A few 3 trains passed us by on the local track.

Most of the passengers in the same car knew each other, as I've seen them regularly before and they all get off and go the same direction out of the station daily (I see some of their group occasionally grading papers, I think they're all schoolteachers).  Once we stopped long enough they took off their headphones and grouped together near the back to chit-chat.  I got out my diary and wrote a bit...

Eventually an MTA guy came into the train's door from the walking ledge outside, then into the driver's cabin at the back (I was in the very last car), then came out, while indistinct voices could be heard through his walkie-talkie and then the train started moving slowly, very slowly for the remainder of the journey.

Here's a cut & paste from the MTA website...

MTA Service Info

Delays Posted: 11/16/2012 7:15AM

Following an earlier incident train service has resumed with residual delays.