Bundled-up pedestrians in Manhattan this morning.Photo: Getty Images
New Yorkers woke up this morning to CNN reports of an Arctic Blast so Arctic and Blastacular that it knocked out Amtrak service upstate. (They also noted that a 69-year-old Minnesota veterinarian named Wade Himes made it to work on time. “Just dress warm,” said Wade, who coincidentally was a also member of a 1955 4x200 relay team that still holds the second-fastest time in Minnesota state history — not bad!) Simultaneously, numerous New York employees reported anger, frustration, and homicidal fantasies directed at MTA officials as issues of slowness, express-only service, and stopping in tunnels for no apparent reason plagued the Sixth Avenue and Lexington Avenue subway lines. Had our commutes been Arctic Blasted? (Incidentally: Great name for a breath mint.) According to the MTA, no. “A signal problem north of Rockefeller Center” was blamed for Sixth Avenue–line problems. But why wasn’t the Lex local running at 8:30? “We don’t have any reports of problems on the 6 this morning,” a spokesperson said. Uh-oh, someone get Wade Himes on the case! —Ben Mathis-Lilley
