Freakout!

I read on Gothamist that a lot of folks were trapped on the subway yesterday due to some problem with the third rail.  Oy!  All I can say is thank God it wasn't me.  While I enjoy the efficiency of the New York subway system, I am seriously claustrophobic.  Every day I have to ride the subway (and that's pretty much every day), I am just one delay away from a total freakout.  When the train is moving, I'm fine.  When we're delayed and the train is stopped at a station (preferably with the doors open), I'm fine.  If we are forced to sit on the tracks outside in Brooklyn, I'm fine.  But to be trapped underground between stations or, God forbid, in the tunnel between Brooklyn and Manhattan, I get all panicky.  Even riding in a crowded elevator makes me a little skittish.  To be trapped in a confined space is like a death sentence for me.  It doesn't matter if the lights are on and the air is flowing.  All I can see is death ahead.  My heart rate increases and I feel jumpy.  Normally, I can mentally talk myself down from the ledge of insanity, but I've never been trapped on a subway or in an elevator car for any extended period of time.  The folks on the subway yesterday were there for an hour or more.  That might have pushed me over the edge.