e-zpass, no e-zpass

the last two mornings i've gotten up at sunrise and gone to count cars. Each time i click the counter on my left hand, that's a guy with ezpass; the right hand is no ezpass. You stand in one place for 5 consecutive 10 minute counts, one for each vehicle classification. The first day, I stood on York between 59th and 60th. I saw a fancy old woman with too much makeup and a hideous phone thing stuck on her ear. Who the hell talked her in to that thing? She stepped into a cab and I thought, “you asshole. I bet you’re an asshole.” Across from me, near the entrance to the Queensboro Bridge, a bunch of guys were doing construction. Right during rush hour, they’ve got huge vehicles tying up a lane at a time, doing 3 point turns and making a racket. If I turned my head the other way, I saw so many solitary old men with cardigans and dogs, I felt like I was in London. My second observation point that morning was 2nd avenue between 57th and 58th. That’s where all the commercial vans drive, and it put me in a really good mood. Also, it was freezing - - surprisingly cold, and I hadn’t brought gloves. My hands were becoming dysfunctionally cold even in my big coat pockets. But I could see across the street, the whole time I’m doing the counts on 2nd avenue, a diner. As soon as I was done, I walked in, saw a little metal table by the door that was shiny because it was getting direct, sharp sun. I sat at the hot table and ate oatmeal and drank green tea. Fucking awesome. The next day I did the counts on the Brooklyn Bridge. I did two shifts at the same observation point, peak and offpeak hours. There was very little change in the traffic between peak and offpeak, but the people walking across the bridge changed from municipal employees to uncomfortable pairs of tourists. Nice day for it though. Also, I got to go have coffee with beth between shifts and hear the story about the poodle and the corn chip.