I think the lack of sleep is getting to me. This morning I was taking the train downtown, and one of the marquee signs was ... acting up. It was flickering wildly and not making any sense at all. Most of the marquees only scroll in red, I noticed, but this one had some flashes of yellow and green.

The tunnel was very quiet - I'd entered the platform from the automated side - very few people enter that way during rush hours because the trains tend to pull to a stop all the way at the other end. I felt lucky to have my camera with me, but also felt a sudden rush of shyness in attempting to record the moment, so I "helpfully" pointed out the faulty sign to the attendant in his little booth several yards down.

He walked back over with me, looking a bit put out that he had to get up from his chair. We drew closer, and I pointed. He looked up, considered the display for a good five seconds.

"Looks fine to me."

I looked at the marquee, then at him.

The sign was still flickering and jumbling its pixels around like an electrical storm.

He was dead serious.

I said, (carefully), "Maybe it's not displaying the date properly? It seemed like maybe there was a flicker, like it was burning out?" He shook his head. "Only thing wrong wit' the sign is that it's, like, dirty. The plexi probably needs a good cleaning, that's all. Looks like it knows it's Friday just fine, ma'am." He gave me a sidelong look, and walked off.

That's when I tried to capture it as well as I could, despite the growing feeling that the people on the platform thought I was a loony. I only got a few seconds' worth before I got embarrassed and stuffed the camera back into my bag.

For what it's worth, the other signs on the platform were scrolling just fine.

Obviously, this was not a dream. It felt like one, though.