A to Z Challenge: My theme this year is NYC before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Q-TRAIN: We live a 5-minute walk from a large subway hub and often take the Q-train. The Q has had many different service patterns since it began running in 1920, and since January of 2017, its route covers 34 stations from 96th St in the Upper East Side of Manhattan to Coney Island and runs from 12:12 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. We’ve had a lot of strange and entertaining subway stories over the last year, and I even got myself stuck in a turnstile with my leg up in the air (I still can’t figure out how that happened), but I thought I’d share some fun facts about NYC’s subway system. (Source)

• 1.7 billion people rode the NYC subway system in 2016, making it the seventh-busiest in the world. Beijing tops the list with nearly double the number of riders, followed by Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul, Guangzhou, and Moscow.

• The busiest station is Times Square (not a surprise) and apparently, if it’s your regular stop and you’re late to work because of a train delay, the MTA will email or fax you a “late letter” of explanation.

• In 1953 when the fair was raised to 15 cents and turnstiles could only accept one type of coin, tokens were used. Thieves would jam turnstiles with coins and then use their mouths to suck out the tokens that were stuck in the slots. Gross. Clerks resorted to sprinkling the slots with chili powder or mace.

• To function as an artificial reef, 44 decommissioned subway cars were dumped in the ocean in 2008.

• Living out most little kids’ dream, a 16-year-old impersonated a train conductor in 1993, driving an A train. For three hours, he safely shuttled passengers to and fro, only getting caught by accidentally triggering an emergency break.

• To ensure a conductor is paying attention and stopping in the right place, he or she must point to a black-and-white striped board in the middle of every subway station. In 2013, a couple of New Yorkers wanted to liven things up and stood beneath the striped bar holding signs, one reading, “Point here if you re dead sexy.”

For a hilarious insider’s view of NYC’s subway system, check out the podcast, Everything is Alive, where they interview a subway seat.

QUARANTINE RAINBOW CONNECTION: It all began in mid-March when a Brooklyn mom posted in her neighborhood Facebook group that her two kids were “getting frustrated with not being able to go to the playgrounds or touch anything when we went on walks.” She suggested residents hang pictures of rainbows in their windows for kids to spot on their daily walks. Other parts of the world had been doing this, so why not in Brooklyn? The idea caught on and even one resident has been keeping a spreadsheet for people to post their addresses–like rainbow-caching–“a lovely reminder for all of us that, in a storm, there is still something to look forward to.” These are just some of the fabulous rainbows we’ve spotted on our walks (who said only kids can have fun playing I-Spy)?