What New Yorkers Do

On Thursday, Marty accompanied me to a minor surgical procedure on 53rd and Third. My doctor's instructions were to elevate the affected leg as much as possible for the next 48 hours. We planned to hop on the 6 Train but passengers were scurrying out of the trains like ants on fire, deciding that at 20 minute wait was too much to bear.

We walked over to 1st Avenue to take the bus. Bad idea. The buses were full and not stopping. We hailed a cab, but after 30 minutes and 4 blocks abandoned that idea and decided to walk the remaining 20 blocks. Normally, 20 blocks would be nothing, but I'm sure the surgeon would not have approved.

There were police everywhere, in cars, on the street, parked on motorcycles. Must be something big. Maybe Obama's at the U.N. No, it was Michelle and Barack making a few pit stops in Manhattan to raise money/awareness/polls/shop for souvenirs.

The next morning, there was a shooting at the Empire State Building and midtown was closed like a pit bull's jaws. No trains, buses, cabs--not even a skateboard. Fortunately, this didn't effect us. We (me, Marty, our nephew Mark and his wife Brie) were able to walk over to the 2nd Avenue Deli on ironically on 1st Avenue to enjoy Old-World kosher delicacies like pastrami on rye, matzo ball soup (balls the size of tennis balls) and potato pancakes with applesauce. The waitress brought us shot glasses of chocolate soda to end the meal. L'chaim.

The plan was to pack the car and go to the country for the weekend. The car, however, had been side-swiped and the side mirror ripped off since last we'd seen it at the end of Alternate-Side Parking. There was a note on the car that said a Penskee rental truck had done it and driven off. They gave the partial plate as XX4138. We called the police, we took photos, we cut the wire from the dangling side mirror. We waited. We called Penske and put in a claim. We called our insurance company. I called the police back. They were very busy drinking coffee and eating donuts and would be with us asap. We decided to drive off into the now-rush hour streets and sit on the FDR Drive for a while.

We arrived at our house 3 hours later and drank cocktails while watching the Yankees beat the Indians 3 to 1. Last night, Marty dreamed the car had been totaled during the night. It hadn't.