Bonding.

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly you can bond with people in stressful situations.  The subways always seem to be under construction, especially on the weekends.  Thus there's no lack of bonding happening.  I'm pretty sure I made 4 new friends on the subway when I asked, "But we're still stopping at 34th st, right?"  I had posed the question to the woman across from me, because she had seen me pull out my earphones and try to listen to the muffled woman on the intercom, failing miserably to understand what she was saying.  The woman with her son, said, "Yes." with a smile.  Than the woman to my right, chimed in and touched my arm, she was with her daughter, husband, son-in-law and granddaughter and she leaned over to say "yes dear, yes it is, but after that stop it won't be making stops until Brooklyn, so just be careful."  It was very sweet, and slightly funny.  Then the two women to my left decided to tell me it was indeed and the man across from me, reading the very fascinating book, "Darcy and Fitzwilliam" which was contrary to his appearance, as what I would peg his "type" of book to be, decided that this warranted a full explanation of the trains and schedules and went on to explain what was happening with the rail and where exactly the next stops would be.  It was all very helpful, and I always appreciate everyone taking the time to bond together to figure out the rigors of mass transportation.