Things That Mess Up My Morning Subway Commute

The best morning commute on the New York City subway is the silent one. Unfortunately, that's not very common. It's difficult to go a week without sitting by at least one person with a way-too-loud iPod.

But on the hierarchy of morning subway annoyances, inadequate headphones are on the minor end. Here are the three things that start my teeth grinding before the workday even begins.

3. People Asking for Donations.

I'm not even talking about the homeless or others down on their luck. The people I have in mind always enter the train and loudly announce that they've got peanut butter sandwiches for anyone who's hungry, making sure to clarify that you don't have to be homeless to be hungry. (That part always makes me roll my eyes. Does any well-dressed, white-collar worker on the way to Wall Street select a sandwich to make up for a skipped breakfast? Yeah, right. For that matter, I wonder if anyone takes a sandwich at all.) Oh, and they also accept donations, of course. Of course.

Frequency: Almost every commute.

2. Musicians.

The most common musician on my morning commute is a man with one leg, two crutches and a harmonica. He always plays two songs: one that wouldn't be out of place in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" followed by Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence." He shakes a plastic container that at one point surely must have held take-out soup from a Chinese restaurant, now replaced with coins. A few people tend to add to the collection as he expertly moves down the aisle. I admire his fortitude and very specialized skill, but it's still annoying.

Even worse are the mariachi bands. I actually like them in the afternoons and weekends. But before 10 a.m.? Not so much.

Frequency: Each and every day, almost without fail.

1. Students on Field Trips.

The absolute worst: 30 school kids with a handful of teachers and chaperones who pile onto your train. The younger kids can be cute, but with the older ones you have to listen to awkward flirting with each other. All of them are loud. And unlike the musicians and donation-seekers, who move on to the next subway car at each stop, the schoolchildren are in it for the long haul. My subway line goes to both the Statue of Liberty ferries and the 9/11 Memorial, so I can generally count on them messing up a good portion of my 45 minute commute.

Frequency: Once every month or two.

The Other Side of Alternate Side Parking Rules

One of the worst things about having a car in New York City is its alternate side parking rules.

Every block is plastered with signs saying when street sweeping occurs. In Bay Ridge, it's a 90-minute stretch once a week, and the day and time differ depending on both the block and the side of the street. For example, it might be 8:30 to 10 a.m. Thursday on the south side of a block, and 8:30 to 10 a.m. Friday on the opposite side. In other neighborhoods, street sweeping occurs twice a week. So it's important to read the signs carefully before you park, particularly if you plan to leave your car in place for multiple days, or even if you plan to move the car the next day, but not until the afternoon.

Now that Paul drives to work almost every day, parking the car isn't nearly as much of an issue as it was a couple of years ago. (But remember that I'm saying this is one who never has to drive or park the car.) Paul nearly always leaves earlier that even the earliest street sweeping (except for the rare sweeps that begin in the 7 o'clock hour). That makes finding a parking spot much easier. On Monday nights, he can park on a block scheduled for a Tuesday morning sweep -- he's out in plenty of time.

Still, there's one thing for street parkers to be aware of. When streets are scheduled to be swept on one side of the street, it's perfectly fine to double park on the opposite side of the street. That means you could theoretically be blocked for 90-minutes. Paul was blocked once before work, but he kept honking his horn until the driver came out to the street and moved his vehicle. Paul thinks that's New York's form of driver etiquette -- OK, you can double park, but you have to respond to the honks.

Sometimes you'll even see drivers in their double-parked cars, engines on during the cold months. Presumably they're waiting for the streets to be cleaned so they can immediately get their prime parking spot back once the street is pristine.

In more than four years of living in Brooklyn, Paul has never once gotten a ticket for failing to meet alternate side parking rules (although there have been a handful of last-minute morning scrambles to move the car). We've been lucky. Orange tickets on windshields are common morning sights.

A Dreary New York Winter

I've got a bad case of the winter blahs.

By my calculations, I haven't left Brooklyn on a Saturday or Sunday since mid-January. That isn't to say we haven't done anything. There was the Chinese New Year celebration, for example, and our own dinner party last weekend. But it's still unusual for us not to go into Manhattan for at least dinner for so long.

Paul says that Manhattan's sparkle has finally worn off. I denied this at first, but maybe he's partly right. When we first moved here, a drop in temperature couldn't keep me away from a museum or interesting restaurant. But now we've been there and tried that, and it takes more to whisk me to a subway platform for a 20 minute wait for a train. And as Paul reminded me, I work in Manhattan. A trip to the city doesn't necessarily equal excitement when it's so routine.

I suspect the fog will lift when spring arrives. Ever since we moved here, I've loved combining a walk through Central Park or a Manhattan neighborhood with dinner in the city. But that's certainly not easy to do when it's 40 degrees and dark at 6 p.m.

Until warmer weather and longer days arrive, however, we're reacquainting ourselves with Bay Ridge restaurants, all within walking distance. After all, the perks of living in New York aren't limited to your proximity to Broadway and the ballet. It's also the proximity to good take-out hummus -- across the street.