3 . There is a very long list of rules for the New York City subway. Don’t put your feet on a seat, don’t carry open cups of coffee or soda, don’t take more than one seat... Those are just a few of the rules. There are hundreds more.

With so many rules, why is it still unpleasant to ride the subway?

Some people think that the problem is that no one enforces the rules. Other passengers sometimes try to enforce rules. But you can’t rely on them because New Yorkers have unwritten rules against talking to strangers and making eye contact with strangers. How can you tell someone to take her shopping bags off the seat and throw away her Coke without talking to her or looking at her? It is difficult.

There are other New Yorkers who think that the subway is unpleasant because there are not enough rules. One rider wrote a letter to The New York Times a couple of weeks ago suggesting a few more subway rules. Here are some of the rules that she would like to see:

—Don’t lean on the poles. You prevent other people from holding on. They can fall down.

—Talk quietly. The trains are already too noisy.

—Give your seat to elderly passengers or to parents with small children.

If those unwritten rules of etiquette are written down, will the rude people be more likely to follow them? It doesn’t make sense to make more rules that no one will enforce.

The real problem is that we are forgetting how to be nice to each other. It is embarrassing that we need a rule to tell us to give our seat to elderly passengers. Nobody should need to be reminded to do that.

I say we stop talking about the rules and try to remember our manners. Let’s be nice to each other not because a police officer might tell us to get off the train, but because it is the right thing to do. Then New York City would be more civilized —both above ground and below.

4 . In court at 9 o'clock. Apart from me there are a few old ladies who have come to the court and a class of 14-15 year-olds with their teacher.

9:05 Court starts. First case: Henry P., 47, divorced, charged with being drunk. He refused to leave a pub at closing time and caused a bit of damage when the police tried to arrest him. P. said he had had an argument with his boss and could not face going home to an empty flat.

9:50 Mrs F., 72, shoplifting (店内偷窃). Apparently Mrs F. had stolen a frozen chicken, which she had hidden under her hat (At this the school children burst out laughing and even the judges have difficulty keeping a straight face). The chicken was so cold that she fell unconscious, otherwise she would probably not have been caught. Mrs F, in tears, says she had not eaten meat for three weeks. It turns out that, although she has the old - age pension, she does not know about other forms of support.

10:30 Peter D., 19. D. stole, or rather “borrowed” a motorcycle, intending, he said, to give it back to the owner after trying it out. D.’s father is at sea and the mother is left to bring up four children, of whom Peter is the eldest, by herself.

11:00 Mrs A., 45, a doctor’s wife, president of a local ladies’ club, was caught leaving a fashion shop wearing two dresses, only one of which belonged to her. Admitting that she had wanted to steal the dress, she could not explain why.