Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Claws, vomit and nightmares

Ever notice the amount of grown men with long finger nails taking the red line into/out of Quincy? This morning I had the displeasure of standing in front of a seated man who had the crustiest, most yellow, long, pointy fingernails I'd seen in quite some time. Take a look and you will throw up in your mouth a little just like I did:



Not only were this man's hands nauseating to look at, but at one point he started tapping his crusty claws, one at a time in quick succession against the metal pole, creating the most irritating and vomit-inducing noise I'd experienced in a long time. I gave him the look of death and scurried away in disgust/terror as he proceeded to make his claw/pole music, which sounded just so beautiful when combined with his hacking, wet cigarette cough.


I'm definitely going to have nightmares about those claws tonight. Usually they only have one or two long pinky or thumb nails, but this guy had 10 fingers in need of a visit with a hacksaw and anti-fungal treatment. At least he didn't pick his nose with them, as I all too often witness on the red line.



2 comments:

  1. Hey, Elizabeth -- my name is Martine Powers, and I'm a reporter with the Globe. I'm working on a story for tomorrow's newspaper about the 100th anniversary of the Red Line, and I'd love to have a quick chat with you about your trials and tribulations on the T! If you have a few minutes, I'm at 617-929-8432. Thanks!

    Martine Powers
    The Boston Globe
    mpowers@globe.com
    (617) 929-8432

    ReplyDelete