Love of the subway sellers

I generally take a book with me on the subway because I a) can’t stand just sitting there,  b) then I don’t have to playing the staring game with those seated across from me,  c) I get soooo bored sitting on the subway — even though it is only a 9 stop ride, including a transfer.

Anyway~  I was meeting a friend to go purchase some glasses after a night class and didn’t want to carry extra crap and so thought that I could tough it out without the book — plus I’m getting tired from reading so much for my masters that reading for pleasure is loosing its meaning.

So there I am, on the subway, staring at people when one of the subway sellers comes on; this time a super glue guy (first time I’ve seen/payed attention to this).  Being bored, he has my full attention.  He pulls out his wooden board with crap glued to it and begins to tap at it.  Then he pulls out some sort of long rubber cord thing that he pulls on, cuts off a section and shows to the “audience” — mostly me.  He proceeds to put 3 dots of glue on it and “seals it back together”.  After pulling on it a few times to demonstrate the strength he tosses it over the metal railing on the ceiling and hangs off of the rubber band to show the strength of the glue.  I then yelled out “WOW.  HOLY SHIT” which got me plenty of stares and giggles.  Passengers must have thought that I was working with him – like the old tonic-cures-all sellers back in the day.

But the best subway seller I ever saw was in the first few weeks of arriving here.  I was seated on the train and at the opposite end I saw this man yelling and it looked like he had some sort of skin “condition”.  There were blemishes all over his face, neck and arms.  I couldn’t see him clearly due to being at the other end of the train and other people standing around.  He began to get closer and I was worried that if he was some insane dude that he’d end up yelling at me.  As he approached I saw he had something in his hand.  I looked closer I saw that he had some sort of slicer and was slicing cucumber pieces so thinly that he could place them all over his face and arms — which from afar appears to be some sort of nasty skin infection.  HA!

I also have bought one thing from them — that crazy drain hook thing.  It’s a long piece of plastic with little hooks down the sides to pull out hair and other gunk from your sink.  It works well but the gag reflex also works over time at what you’ll pull out of there.

Have you bought anything from the subway sellers?  What’s your favorite item?