Dashing Through the Subway

Entering the station at Rockefeller Center on Friday with several bags of presents,The range includes the traffic-stopping City Wholesale Cheap Tulle satin round neck A-line wedding dresses party dresses flower girl dresses in bright cobalt Ronald Cabrera, 28, from Corona, Queens,which was stocked in Harrods but failed to weather the recession Discount Spandex One Shoulder Beaded Draped Sheath Evening/Prom Dresses. said his small group had recruited a secret weapon to clear space aboard the train."We put her right in front," he said, turning to Diana Cifuentes, 26, who is more than seven months pregnant.the bags are glitzy and youthful and fun Discount Unique round neck A-line Sleeveless Beaded evening/prom dresses. "Everybody says, 'All right.' "Riders seemed divided on whether the looming holiday had improved collegiality on board, observing that while season's greetings were exchanged occasionally, many passengers chafed at the misshapen gifts and puffy coats that December brought.The damp conditions in recent days may have also hamstrung relations, ensuring that even the most delectable Christmas treat was overpowered by a scent that called to mind a longhaired dog after a swim.

On the track beds below, apparent evidence of shopping feats and failures predominated — coupon books, partly torn; boxes that once held bottles of whiskey or wine; and an array of shopping bags, some severed at the midsection, leaving only a sheared top and a moldering handle.Inside the station at Herald Square, where it seemed that every other rider lugged a Macy's bag, Chris Clay, 31, from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, said that package size could be used to appraise a fellow rider's spending habits."The more expensive gifts you buy are smaller," Mr. Clay said. He held up two modest bags, containing jewelry and pajamas for his girlfriend.

"She gets the high quality stuff," he said.Days earlier, David Cicconi, 38, from Park Slope, Brooklyn, seemed to bolster that theory, hauling a hefty juicer through the station at Bryant Park. It was a giveaway from work that he planned to pass along to his girlfriend.Lifting the appliance over the turnstile was worth the possible injury, he said."There's always the threat of a shoulder strain," he said, briefly knocking into another rider as he adjusted the box at his feet. "I still think I'm 19."On a downtown No. 3 train, Sue Kee, 41, from Canarsie, Brooklyn, suggested that the contents of her bags, in packages across the subway floor, were immaterial.Transporting the gifts was an annual rite, she said, a reminder that some people in her life were worth the trouble. "I love to schlep," she said. "I'm doing it for other people."