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Subway platform, NYC

On mornings when I'm lucky, I catch the Brooklyn-bound A train just after nine o'clock. It's an older train; the light is like that of an overcast morning that hasn't decided yet if it's going to rain. The announcements are made by the conductor. On this particular run, I've come to recognize the conductor's voice; his delivery is hard to miss. At every stop he bids his passengers well. On weekdays he bids us to have a glorious day. On weekends, "Have a glorious day, and a warm and wonderful weekend."

I like the newer trains, but I miss the more personal announcements by conductors such as he. In the past, there was a conductor who would advertise the attractions at each stop. I seem to remember another that would sing out the stops, but I may have made that memory up.

I shot this photo in a Brooklyn subway station on the way back from the beach last summer. It had been an all-day affair, what with a picnic on the beach and dinner back at a colleague's house. We ate mussels we had collected ourselves. That's my friend waiting on the platform for her train, her back turned to me.