Trouble parsing a sentence with a postponed は

Question

The other day I was reading a book and came across the following passage:

そう言われて端の席に座り、私は団子を自分の皿に乗せた。

At first I thought this was a simple enumeration ("I was told this, I took a side seat and put the dangos on my plate"). But the fact that "私は" is mid-sentence confuses me. Regarding that, I have the following questions:

1. Is it significative at all that 私は is midsentence? or is it a simple case of exotic syntax?
2. Is it perhaps marking a change of subject? (something like "they told my this and took a side seat, but as for myself. I put the dangos on my plate")
3. Can that "座り" be equivalent to "座るのは"? (so as to read "The ones that were siting by the sides told me this, but I...")

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

1. 私は like this is completely optional in Japanese. If it's present only with the third predicate in the sentence, it's simply because the author felt it was the "main" part of the sentence that deserved an explicit subject. The part before it is relatively unimportant. So this sentence kind of feels like:

   _{After taking the seat at the end following their instruction,} I put the dangos on my plate.

2. All the three predicates (言われる, 座る and 乗せる) in this sentence share the same subject, 私. There is no change in subject.

3. This 座り is a simple example of 中止法.