4 Minutes Til Departure

One thing about working for a mail correspondence based company is that we're off work for all government holidays - if the post office can't serve, nor can we. Thus, I enjoyed a nice MLK day yesterday. With the snow falling outside, nothing seemed finer than an afternoon of gaming! Made the trip to my friend George's apartment in Bushwick to do just that, and after a few hours, got called back to fight off the invading army of cockroaches (separate post for that). So coming back, I decided to take the L line.

To the unfamiliar, the L line holds a certain distinction in that they really do their best to give updates with the times the next train will depart. Even gone as far as to install overhead countdown signs, much like the densha's in Japan. So right when I got to the platform last night, I heard the announcement:

"The next Manhattan bound L train will depart in 4 minutes."
I decided to time this.

Now, I didn't have my watch with me and didn't want to waste any time trying to figure it out on my cell phone. So I started counting. 1. 2. 3. 4....

I did my best to keep them as evenly numbered as possible. There's bound to be some error to it, but I was thinking, ok, I'm clock. Let's tick!

At somewhere during the 2 minute mark (I reset my counts at 60, so let's say it was the third time I hit 30), another announcement came stating that a Manhattan bound L train would soon be arriving and to stand back away from the edge of the platform.

Meanwhile, I kept on ticking. The fourth minute came, so I rolled back to 1. 2. 3. 4....
Around 18 or 19, I could see the lights of the train coming. Damn, I thought. Not bad.
At 43, the train passed me by, slamming its breaks.
By 48, it had come to a stop.
A second later at 49, the doors opened.
50 I started walking.
51 I stepped on board.
52 and I turned around.
55 and the classic "Stand clear of the closing doors, please."
58 and the doors started to closed.
59 doors closed, everything quiet.
00 and the breaks were released. We started moving.

And just like that, holy damn, everything was spot on. Again, there may have been some small human error involved, but damn. Not that I even wanted it to necessarily happen so tight like that. Maybe there's some weird human psychology coming into play here - but again, I tried to make that not an option. Or there was a telepathic robot driving it. I don't know. But it was wow.

But exactly at 4 minutes after the first announcement came, we were off, and the system worked.