So, I'm moving into less-wild time at work right now, at least for a bit, but on Thursday night I left work quite a bit later than I'd expected to - as frequently happens, I decided to do "just that one last thing" that ended up taking way longer than I thought.
B train service ends early this week so I grabbed a D, which means transferring to my local Q train at the Atlantic Avenue, which is a big station with a lot of lines running through it. D to Q transfer involves a long walk through passageways that run from one end of the station to the other.
Atlantic Avenue is now officially known as Atlantic Avenue Barclays Center, after the gigantic arena there that opened in 2012. I've been pretty lucky about not needing to transfer there just as a big game let out, but that luck didn't hold tonight. A hockey game had just let out and the station was absolutely jammed with jersey-clad fans.
Ordinarily this would've been aggravating - not the worst commute ever but good for a little internal grumbling about the powers that be who thought that the middle of downtown Brooklyn* was the perfect place to build a sports arena.
But that night, half of the jerseys were Pittsburgh, and although usually my only interest in sports teams is tied to how much joy my sports-fan friends take in a win for their team, I find I have a soft spot for the Penguins right now.
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*A Brooklyn FB friend questioned my description of the arena neighborhood as downtown Brooklyn. My response: "Hey, I'm from Aiea, what do I know?". Seriously, though, that was a bit of hyperbole, but it's not far from downtown Brooklyn, "downtown Brooklyn" gives non-Brooklynites something they can recognize, and it moves the story along better than "the convergence of a bunch of neighborhoods (Boerum Hill, Fort Greene, Downtown Brooklyn, Park Slope, Prospect Height)". Debating neighborhood boundaries is something of a NYC past-time, I found that quote in a Reddit discussion that's a a pretty good example. As for me, I know I live in Flatbush but I've never been 100% sure whether I live in Ditmas Park or Midwood. Anyways, Brooklyn friends, I hope you'll forgive my willful inaccuracy!
2 comments:
Well, for years I thought my friend lived in Bensonhurst but she actually lived in Gravesend. My Aunt and Uncle lived in Midwood, at least I think they did. And I think my childhood neighborhood in the Bronx was Williamsbridge but it could have been Olinville. Yup, it's quite a pastime, this neighborhood guessing. I've seen the Penguins jersey all over Facebook now, along with the Pittsburgh newspaper headline with the first words of the Kaddish in Hebrew (it's on their website now, too).
Oh, that's funny - so this isn't a new thing either!
I hadn't seen the Pittsburgh paper headline - choked me up when I found it. What a terrible week.
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