Great Grates

These are the new subway grates that have appeared around Queens, I saw some today while in Astoria. Not only are they attractive, apparently they divert rainwater toward the sewers and prevent floods, which the Queens train lines are particularly prone to. I could have used these awesome grates back when I commuted daily to Queens, and stuff like this happened:

(email excerpt, August 8th 2007)
Let me just tell you about my morning, and it will help you not miss NYC as much. So I happily leave my apartment at about 5 min to 9, plenty of time to get to Astoria by 9:30, maybe even stop at Metro for a bagel... or so I thought. Because of water on the tracks, the G train is completely 100% shut down. Keep in mind, the storm was in the early morning hours, it seems to me that would have provided several hours in which to clean up the tracks or whatever, but no. So I figure I will take the L to Union Sq and transfer to the NRW and that should only put me 10 min or so behind schedule, no big deal. I soon discovered that what they say about taking the L into Manhattan during rush hour is true-- it's heinous. So crowded, I thought it couldn't get any more crowded or gross... until I got to the NRW platform at 14th street. Where I waited, pressed oh so close to hundreds to other disgusting sweaty people, for TWENTY MINUTES. I kept thinking, this is a way to torture people. I could die if I was stuck here for an extended period of time. This is like a concentration camp. I was soooo sweaty. Like I had just done two yoga classes. Finally the train comes, and I was like, I'm gonna have to be tough girl here, because everyone and their mom also wanted on that train and off the sweaty platform. The pushing to get on the train bordered on violent. If I was an old person or something, I think I might have been killed. I have never EVER been so pushed and prodded and squished, but I made it on. And it was the N train, so I was like yay express! But no, it was running local. Slowly yet surely we made our uptown, and finally by like 57th street the train emptied out a bit and I could sit down. I'm actually amazed I was only 30 min late to work...