Check out Ric Kahn’s article on fare evasion in today’s Globe.

HERE.

I had very special lunch plans today, and was working in Back Bay all day, so I had no choice but to hit the gym early. Early meaning seven-thirty or so, which I know is not really early for early purists. I assure you I was up at the crack of dawn, but the last thing I want to do first thing in the morning is work out. I like to have a couple espressos over the space of an hour before I do anything that requires coordinated movement.

But as for the commute. What a difference an hour makes. I was afraid the seven o’clock wouldn’t be all that different from the eight o’clock rush, but it was a not unpleasant ride into town.

Except that on the train I discovered to my chagrin that my editor at Metro had cut off the last line of my weekly op-ed piece (you can find the “alternative ending” here). In fact, it didn’t bug me all that much. I’m pretty mellow about my Metro gig. This is just some more of my ongoing campaign of shameless self-promotion. But why not, right?

I wrote about immigration this week. I didn’t make it to the rallies, though. I wonder if the T was clogged up with immigrants. Somehow I doubt it. The illegals I have known and loved have always had cars. I knew a lovely guy, Brazilian, who was a busboy at Chili’s. Does the T go there? I don’t think so. He had to drive, of course. But not to worry, he had his fake driving license and all that.

Now that the weather’s certifiably glorious I just walk from Park Street Station to Boylston and Berkeley, where I “work,” through the Common and the BPG. They’ve filled in the pond. There’s a fragrant magnolia in bloom right now that is simply magnificent. Took me back to my childhood. The so-called “Proust Effect.”

All I can say: get out and smell things now, because once the blooms all fall off you’re shit outta luck. You could get hit by a bus tomorrow, or fall victim to anosmia, so don’t put it off.

I made a little friend of the squirrel in the picture above this morning. Well, I say “friend,” but we were really just using each other. I wanted a picture, and he wanted a nut. I didn’t have a nut, and I never said I did. He assumed. But while he was cute enough in his Beatrix Potter way, the whole Beatrix Potter Shtick has been done by squirrels the world over. The beef I have with him is he only had that one pose, like he is in the picture. Even if I’d had a nut, I don’t think I’d have given it to him for that. Maybe if he called another squirrel over and they beat each other up for it.