OK, things are getting crazy here
Yesterday, I didn't notice the strike too much. (All of you who live in the outer boroughs and have to come to Manhattan to work, please don't hold it against me. I know you had a tough time starting yesterday morning.) Today, it's officially crazy. 8th Avenue is choked with cars. Almost none of them are stopping for lights; when they do stop, they go again too early. So crossing the street is like walking an obstacle course and I'm sure the driving is absolute hell. To make matters worse, many people are trying to get to Penn Station. I would not want to be someone in the city trying to get to JFK or La Guardia. People are probably selling their bodies for taxis and then the taxis will crawl along at 2 mph. And taking the A train to JFK is out.
The strike is also starting to trickle into unexpected places. At the gym, for example, there's a sign up telling us not to take too many towels, "because of the MTA transit strike." It doesn't seem to have affected supermarket goods. I picked up the gym schedule for classes, because they have yoga classes and I can ask to be on their sublist (after sampling the class).
There are two other places where I'm thinking of getting on the sublist. I'm on the fence about this one. Somehow it seems a little hard core. I guess the only way to find out is to take a class there.
And finally: 2 annoying groups are out in full force today.
1) Old women who cut me off while pushing shopping carts. These women cut in front of me, then proceed to walk at one-quarter mile per hour. I WALK FAST. Why do you cut in front of someone if you walk slower than they do? The mysteries of civilization.
2) Junior high kids who decide to flirt by punching each other, climbing onto each other's backs, etc. usually in the middle of a crowded sidewalk. I'm glad they're getting their groove on, or heading in that direction, (oh wait, was that a horrible thing to say? provided they use protection, etc.), BUT DO IT SOMEWHERE ELSE. Somewhere where you won't knock people over.
And finally, D has a very difficult client right now. A total PIA. I told D they need to break up. This brings me back to early in the relationship when a guy D worked with offered to take us for a ride in his Cessna. This is a small, noisy plane with a propeller. I was terrified. The guy let D fly the plane and everything (there was a similar setup to a driving school car, where the guy could press the brakes and so forth). Anyway, we flew over the Delaware Water Gap into Jersey. We ate at a little cafe. Then, in the plane on the way back, D "dumped" him. While we were still in the air! Fortunately, he wasn't a vindictive guy. All I could think of was that scene in "Broken Arrow" where John Travolta gets all fascist in the air and makes the pilot crash the plane.
The strike is also starting to trickle into unexpected places. At the gym, for example, there's a sign up telling us not to take too many towels, "because of the MTA transit strike." It doesn't seem to have affected supermarket goods. I picked up the gym schedule for classes, because they have yoga classes and I can ask to be on their sublist (after sampling the class).
There are two other places where I'm thinking of getting on the sublist. I'm on the fence about this one. Somehow it seems a little hard core. I guess the only way to find out is to take a class there.
And finally: 2 annoying groups are out in full force today.
1) Old women who cut me off while pushing shopping carts. These women cut in front of me, then proceed to walk at one-quarter mile per hour. I WALK FAST. Why do you cut in front of someone if you walk slower than they do? The mysteries of civilization.
2) Junior high kids who decide to flirt by punching each other, climbing onto each other's backs, etc. usually in the middle of a crowded sidewalk. I'm glad they're getting their groove on, or heading in that direction, (oh wait, was that a horrible thing to say? provided they use protection, etc.), BUT DO IT SOMEWHERE ELSE. Somewhere where you won't knock people over.
And finally, D has a very difficult client right now. A total PIA. I told D they need to break up. This brings me back to early in the relationship when a guy D worked with offered to take us for a ride in his Cessna. This is a small, noisy plane with a propeller. I was terrified. The guy let D fly the plane and everything (there was a similar setup to a driving school car, where the guy could press the brakes and so forth). Anyway, we flew over the Delaware Water Gap into Jersey. We ate at a little cafe. Then, in the plane on the way back, D "dumped" him. While we were still in the air! Fortunately, he wasn't a vindictive guy. All I could think of was that scene in "Broken Arrow" where John Travolta gets all fascist in the air and makes the pilot crash the plane.
Comments
"The best part of the first day of the strike that I didn't have to go to work. I woke up at 5:45 morning, turned on the radio, and heard that a strike had been called at 3:00 AM. I then looked at my school's website (www.friendsseminary.org) and saw an announcement that school was cancelled. I pumped my fist in the air and belly-flopped back into my bed.
"Later Tuesday morning, I took a walk from my apartment, on West 77th Street, up to West 99th Street. Between West 77th Street and West 96th Street, people walking south packed the sidewalks. The streets, however, were calm. Traffic was light, and all of the cars and taxi-cabs driving down the streets were either official city vehicles or had at least four people inside. In true New York style, there was a also man holding open the side door of a white van and calling out, "Seven dollars to Fourteenth Street! Van to downtown! Seven dollars a person!" The thing that surprised me is that most people were passing the van and ignoring the $7.00 rides.
"When I walked north of 96th street, I saw a bit more chaos. At 96th Street, the city is turning away all cars with fewer than four people who are heading downtown. Cars were swerving away as they neared the checkpoint, and pedestrians were racing across the street, for no apparent reason. I saw a cyclist nearly hit a person. I also heard of a car that simply ignored a police officer and zipped across 96th Street, headed for downtown. North of 96th Street, cars were backed up for blocks. Car grills nuzzled up against car bumpers and horns honked. 7:45 yesterday morning was an inconvenient time to be in a car north of 96th Street, whether you had four people in your car or not.
"On my way back to my apartment, I stopped in a deli to buy food for lunch. There were other people in the deli, and at least one of them was stopping for food on her way to work. "I started at 103rd street," she said, "And I'm headed for 34th Street for work. I hope they can figure this out before I have to walk home." Given that the distance between 103rd Street and 34th Street is 3 1/2 miles and that the temperature is below freezing today, I hoped that she didn't have to walk home, either. Today, I had to walk to work. I tutored a student at 11:15 this morning, and I wanted to keep the commitment. So I walked from 77th Street and West End Avenue to 16th Street and Third Avenue. The walk was about three and a half miles, and it took me about an hour and a quarter. On the way, I was again surprised by how light the traffic was. The police were restricting car traffic into Midtown Manhattan, and as a result, the North/South Avenues are basically empty. People were cycling and rollerblading down the middle of Fifth Avenue. And the bikes that people were riding were not normal-sized. The bikes were folding bikes, with tiny wheels. The bike riders, wearing fur caps, heavy coats, and backpacks, looked unstable. But the riders and the bikes stayed upright, and they moved along.
"Pedestrians moved along, as well. For a second day, I was surprised by how single-minded the pedestrians were. Cars were allowed to travel East-to-West on cross streets in Midtown Manhattan, but the car traffic was awful, mostly because pedestrians kept plunging into oncoming traffic even when traffic lights flashed DONT WALK. Cars
honked their horns, but traffic crawled and people scurried on. Public transportation is necessary not only to help New York's pedestrians travel to work, apparently, but also to get the pedestrians out of the way of the cars.
"The only obstacle to pedestrian traffic was the temperature. While it was sunny, the 24-degree air glazed sidewalks with ice. Just before I made it to my school, in fact, I found myself whirling my feet like a Marx Brother. I pitched backward, and I planted my wrist on a big patch of black ice. I suffered no great damage, but I was annoyed. I went into the apartment building next to the ice, and I asked the superintendent to throw down some salt."
This afternoon, I walked all the way back up to the upper west side - I've logged at least 9 miles today. Tomorrow, I have to get to Wall Street. Yikes! I'll either borrow a bike from an Upper West Side friend, or I'll have to take a ferry from 39th street to weehawken, and then travel from Weehawken to Wall Street. And then I'll have to reverse the process. And in the evening, I'll have to walk up to Hunter College High School, at 94th and Park, for a graduate class. Needless to say, I hope they settle the strike tonight.
I had a little old lady in the store today coming toward me blocking the aisle. I smiled at her in a friendly way and I swear I saw an evil look on her face that said, "I am blocking you on purpose!" Some people have nothing better to do, I guess.
T - I can't believe it! The traffic in Brooklyn must be a lot easier than in Manhattan. It's still all blocked outside today. It looks like non-MTA buses are cruising the streets. I don't know if they're picking up passengers, though.