Occupational Hazards

The train rolled slowly into the subway station, on account of the track workers repairing the tracks. As the first car went by me the train driver smiled and nodded at me. Two track workers passed by me as I was waiting to get into the train. One of them asked me how I was and said: “Break a leg today!”. It always warms my heart when the MTA employees recognize me and show their support of what I do.

When I got to the Music Under New York busking spot at the 59th street subway station there were two black plastic garbage bags right in the spot where I was supposed to sit and play. I had to move them to the side in order to set up.

The guy who makes balloon figures said ‘hi’. He’s been doing balloon sculptures for kids in Canada for a couple of months, but now he’s back home in NYC.
Two Nortenos playing guitars said ‘hi’ as they were waiting to continue playing on the next train. They showed me their fingers – they had deep slits in their skin from playing guitars on the subway every day from 9am to 4pm. I showed them my blisters from playing the saw. We felt united by our common occupational hazards.

Musical saw joke of the day:
Guy: “And the good thing is, that I feel safe now. If a mugger comes by, you can protect us 😉 “