Riding Backwards: Tales and Tips from a Seasoned New York City Metro North Train Commuter

By Vin De Fina and Kyle Orozovich

First time author Vin De Fina, being of whimsical mind and spirit, shares over 40 humorous vignettes of commuter travel on the New York City Metro North commuter train. His tales include tips and insights collected over years of commuting from Connecticut to New York City's Grand Central Station and back again. Vin says, "I have personally experienced more than 90% of the events depicted in this book. Notwithstanding this certification, you can't make this stuff up anyway, even if you tried!"
Family friend and artist, Kyle Orozovich, makes this book even more fun to read with comical illustrations. So, pick up your cup of commuter coffee and settle into your seat for an enjoyable read!

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Nov 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9781543990591

Book preview

Conclusion

Elbows of Justice

I’d like to start this book with a story to illustrate that, on New York City commuter trains, stuff happens. This is a true and amusing tale told to me by a friend and fellow commuter who lives up the line a short distance. Let's call my friend Greg.

Greg had been working in a law firm in Stamford, Connecticut and recently taken a job in the Met Life building in NYC with a major New York Law firm. Because the Met Life building in Midtown is adjacent to Grand Central Terminal, it no longer made sense for him to drive his car to work. Now, the Metro North train became extremely practical.

Greg is the size of a hockey or football player. Being a big fella, he figured out that he would be most comfortable sitting in an aisle seat in a standard three seat row. If no one sat in the middle, this would allow elbow room on both his left and right sides.

Most of the time, when he sat in the aisle seat of a three-seater, another commuter would squeeze by him to sit in the window seat, and the middle seat would be left vacant. Greg had ample room to read a paper, work on his laptop, eat a buttered roll and sip some coffee…a very enjoyable commute.

Once in a while, a third commuter would sit in the middle seat. This wasn’t a major problem if the third commuter was a small male or female. However, if the middle seat dweller happened to be a large person, the space became downright uncomfortable.

I have observed that males, especially large males, typically don’t choose to sit in the middle of a three-seater between two other males. Doing so would pin them in on both their right and left sides. On occasion, however, a large male would sit in the middle seat next to Greg, which would be fine if the middle seat dweller stayed within the space defined by the armrests on both sides of his seat.

If the middle seat dweller randomly crossed the boundary of the arm rest into Greg's personal space, Greg would forgive him on the first occurrence. If the middle seat dweller repeatedly invaded Gregg's personal space, he related to me that he would employ The Elbows of Justice to equalize the space as well as send a strong message to the invader.

The Elbows of Justice technique of space maximization consists of one bringing their fists into their chests and extending their elbows out parallel to the ground. This maneuver has the effect of prying open the space immediately next to you on both your right and left sides.

According to Greg, The Elbows of Justice can be used multiple times in a row to drive home the message that the middle seat dweller should keep within his own space.

If one day you find yourself in the same position as Greg, feel free to use Greg’s tried and true technique…unless, of course, the guys next to you are of intimidating stature and you decide to play it safe and acquiesce.

Adventure Seats

The adventure seats are the facing forwards aisle seats at the very front of the train closest to the engineer’s compartment. When sitting in these seats, you can look directly down the aisle through the window that is on the door at the front of the leading car. You basically see what the engineer is seeing as he drives the train from station to station.

It is exciting to sit in the adventure seats, especially if you are a kid or a kid at heart. It used to be permissible to get up from your seat and walk down the aisle right to that front door and look out the door window. From that position, you could see exactly what the engineer saw ahead of him or her, as you are now standing next to where the engineer is sitting and driving the train.

From an adventure seat, you can see other trains passing in the same direction and coming from the opposite direction, blowing their whistles and whizzing by. If the train is a local train, you can see the red, yellow and green train signal lights that the engineer sees upon approaching work crews on the tracks as well as when approaching and leaving the many local stations on the train route into Grand Central.

Metro North express trains can achieve speeds approaching eighty miles per hour. This is truly whizzing by.

In an adventure seat or standing at the window in the door to the engineer’s compartment, it is fun to go through the many tunnels on the train route, especially the long train tunnel under Park Avenue leading into Grand Central itself.