Before we get on or off the boat, we have to listen to some announcements.

[conuly]

"Welcome aboard the Staten Island Ferry. Please take a moment to pay attention to the following safety announcements."

or, when leaving...

"All passengers must depart the ferry at this time. Passengers wishing to make a return trip to Manhattan must exit into the terminal to await the next ferry."

This announcements get into your brain, they really do. I've heard four year olds reciting them before getting on the boat. I've heard teenagers going through the spiel when leaving the boat. I've heard people of all ages (including myself) mindlessly humming or reciting along as the announcement went through.

If I were to write a children's book about riding the ferry, it'd have to include the whole routine, because it's clearly an essential part of life if you take the boat too often.

"Please stay off stairs, ramps, and landings during docking. Failure to do so could result in serious injury."

I tell you, the announcements even show up in dreams.

Anything like that happen to anybody else lately?

Comments

[mayhemwench.livejournal.com]

When I was taking the LIRR to work every day, I could recite every stop on the Great Neck and Hempstead lines forward and backward, in exactly the same tone and cadence as the conductorpeople, and I could also recite every stop on the Babylon and Oyster Bay lines, but only in one direction, and only from Jamaica Station on. I would find myself doing it unconsciously while waiting for my own train.

[conuly]

Which reminds me!

[sunnydale47.livejournal.com]

Heehee ... I was planning to write a comment saying exactly the same thing! Except for me it's the Speonk line on the south shore. I moved away from there in 1975, but three decades later I can still remember every station stop on the line!

Like you, I can only say them eastbound, from listening to the announcements over and over and over and over at Jamaica, while changing from the electric train to the diesel. I couldn't recite them in westbound order if my life depended on it! And also like you, I can still do it in the conductor's voice. "Train to Speonk! Stopping at Babylon ... Bay Shore ... Islip ... GREAT River ... Oakdale ... Sayville ... Bayport .. Blue Point ... PATCHogue ..... Bellport ... Mastic-Shirley ... Center Moriches, AND SPEE-onk!"

I haven't thought of that in many years! I remember my regular conductor's name, too ... it was Emil, pronounced by the passengers in three syllables, "AY-me-ul". (I have no idea what the correct pronunciation was.) I don't know why I remember that when I can't remember what I did yesterday, but there it is. It's amazing what gets burned-in to one's brain!

[xiggaroo.livejournal.com]

It was crazy tonight, all of a sudden I was stopped DEAD IN MY TRACKS because it smelled just like the ferry terminal. Maybe it was the humidity, or the faint smell of hot dog, but I swear to god it creeped me out. It was SO REAL. And I've been thinking about you guys and NYC so much lately, it was just multi-level weird.

No one I was with got it at all, I was sad.

[conuly]

I've had moments like that. Scarysad, aren't they?

[xiggaroo.livejournal.com]

Yeah.. especially this one because it made me WAY nostalgic and regretful and blah. It was crazy.

[velvetchamber.livejournal.com]

The subway system in Prague does that to people too. It is said that tourists can not leave the city without having had the phrases plying on mental repeat at least once.

Ukončete prosím výstup a nástup, dveře se zavírají. Příští stanice: [next station to be stopped at]

I can still remember this since a fortnight in the city four years ago... (although I had to look the spelling up) I mostly remember the next station being Vyšehrad.

[adina77.livejournal.com]

ya know, I ust got that message out of my head a bit ago now I have it in my head again :(. Grrrr

[rachelkachel]

I get that with airport announcements. They've just recently changed the no-smoking one, actually, but I still remember the old one, and the exact timing/pauses and tone and everything. I don't fly as often as you take the ferry, but I do it several times a year and it has the same effect, especially since you're sitting there for hours at a time and you get the same announcements every few minutes.

"The Utah Clean Air Act prohibits smoking in the passenger terminal. If you wish to smoke, please do so in the designated smoking areas."

[mayhemwench.livejournal.com]

When I was taking the LIRR to work every day, I could recite every stop on the Great Neck and Hempstead lines forward and backward, in exactly the same tone and cadence as the conductorpeople, and I could also recite every stop on the Babylon and Oyster Bay lines, but only in one direction, and only from Jamaica Station on. I would find myself doing it unconsciously while waiting for my own train.

[conuly]

Which reminds me!

[sunnydale47.livejournal.com]

Heehee ... I was planning to write a comment saying exactly the same thing! Except for me it's the Speonk line on the south shore. I moved away from there in 1975, but three decades later I can still remember every station stop on the line!

Like you, I can only say them eastbound, from listening to the announcements over and over and over and over at Jamaica, while changing from the electric train to the diesel. I couldn't recite them in westbound order if my life depended on it! And also like you, I can still do it in the conductor's voice. "Train to Speonk! Stopping at Babylon ... Bay Shore ... Islip ... GREAT River ... Oakdale ... Sayville ... Bayport .. Blue Point ... PATCHogue ..... Bellport ... Mastic-Shirley ... Center Moriches, AND SPEE-onk!"

I haven't thought of that in many years! I remember my regular conductor's name, too ... it was Emil, pronounced by the passengers in three syllables, "AY-me-ul". (I have no idea what the correct pronunciation was.) I don't know why I remember that when I can't remember what I did yesterday, but there it is. It's amazing what gets burned-in to one's brain!

[xiggaroo.livejournal.com]

It was crazy tonight, all of a sudden I was stopped DEAD IN MY TRACKS because it smelled just like the ferry terminal. Maybe it was the humidity, or the faint smell of hot dog, but I swear to god it creeped me out. It was SO REAL. And I've been thinking about you guys and NYC so much lately, it was just multi-level weird.

No one I was with got it at all, I was sad.

[conuly]

I've had moments like that. Scarysad, aren't they?

[xiggaroo.livejournal.com]

Yeah.. especially this one because it made me WAY nostalgic and regretful and blah. It was crazy.

[velvetchamber.livejournal.com]

The subway system in Prague does that to people too. It is said that tourists can not leave the city without having had the phrases plying on mental repeat at least once.

Ukončete prosím výstup a nástup, dveře se zavírají. Příští stanice: [next station to be stopped at]

I can still remember this since a fortnight in the city four years ago... (although I had to look the spelling up) I mostly remember the next station being Vyšehrad.

[adina77.livejournal.com]

ya know, I ust got that message out of my head a bit ago now I have it in my head again :(. Grrrr

[rachelkachel]

I get that with airport announcements. They've just recently changed the no-smoking one, actually, but I still remember the old one, and the exact timing/pauses and tone and everything. I don't fly as often as you take the ferry, but I do it several times a year and it has the same effect, especially since you're sitting there for hours at a time and you get the same announcements every few minutes.

"The Utah Clean Air Act prohibits smoking in the passenger terminal. If you wish to smoke, please do so in the designated smoking areas."