Late in the morning, and my coffee is cold

It’s the morning commute on BART, well actually late into the commute. It’s after 8:30 and I’m sure that most going into the city for work were on board the 7 am train. I’ve never seen the 7 am train and if I had my choice I never would. At 7 am I’d much prefer to just be waking up to the sound of the handsome man that was just sleeping next to me going downstairs to start the coffee. These 8:30 train people are my people…the sleeper inners of the world.

It’s a world of difference between the casual weekend / midday / night riders as compared to those on board during the morning commute. News papers, laptops and books. Sport coats, brief cases and pantyhose. In this section of the train I only see one person in a baseball cap. At least he has the common decency to be wearing a home team SF Giants cap and not some hip hop clothing logo or punk band branded cap. Same goes with the few carrying back packs rather than briefcases. Plain navy blue Jansports far out number Echo and Dora the Explorer brands.

We are about 5 minutes into the ride and heads are starting to do the head bob. You know the look of the head bob, the eyes start getting heavy, they slowly lower until they closed. And as the eyes close the head starts to drop down onto chest. You can see the sleep deprived trying to fight it off. As soon as their head hits bottom, it immediately springs back up and the eyes fly wide open in panic. The entire process to be repeated again in about 30 seconds.

It’s a much quieter ride in the morning. There is a rustle of newspapers and the occasional brief and hushed conversation on a cell phone. For the most part everyone keeps to themselves. The train’s operator comes over the loud speaker announcing the next stop in a brief but soft tone, as if not to disturb the riders’ brief time of solitude before they start their workday.

Welcome to the city, I hope the office coffee pot isn't empty yet.