I think the lack
of sleep is getting to me. This morning I was taking the train downtown,
and one of the marquee signs was ... acting up. It was flickering
wildly and not making any sense at all. Most of the marquees only
scroll in red, I noticed, but this one had some flashes of yellow
and green.
The tunnel was very
quiet - I'd entered the platform from the automated side - very few
people enter that way during rush hours because the trains tend to
pull to a stop all the way at the other end. I felt lucky to have
my camera with me, but also felt a sudden rush of shyness in attempting
to record the moment, so I "helpfully" pointed out the faulty
sign to the attendant in his little booth several yards down.
He walked back over
with me, looking a bit put out that he had to get up from his chair.
We drew closer, and I pointed. He looked up, considered the display
for a good five seconds.
"Looks fine
to me."
I looked at the
marquee, then at him.
The sign was still
flickering and jumbling its pixels around like an electrical storm.
He was dead serious.
I said, (carefully),
"Maybe it's not displaying the date properly? It seemed like
maybe there was a flicker, like it was burning out?" He shook
his head. "Only thing wrong wit' the sign is that it's, like,
dirty. The plexi probably needs a good cleaning, that's all. Looks
like it knows it's Friday just fine, ma'am." He gave me a sidelong
look, and walked off.
That's when I tried
to capture it as well as I could, despite
the growing feeling that the people on the platform thought I was
a loony. I only got a few seconds' worth before I got embarrassed
and stuffed the camera back into my bag.
For what it's worth,
the other signs on the platform were scrolling just fine.
Obviously, this
was not a dream. It felt like one, though.