Collected thoughts
Various things I have witnessed:
Thursday, coming home from late tutoring at the TPR office near Grand Central. I'm trying to get to the 5 train to get home. I open the door from the terminal into the subway area and nearly slip over something or another at the doorway. Then I notice that my left shoe is giving very little traction, feels like I stepped in a puddle of oil. Then I noticed, every 8 feet or so, puddles of vomit on the side wall. I think, "wow, somebody's having a rough night."
Then it occurs to me what I stepped in and why my shoe was slick. Ew.
So I keep walking towards the train and, sure enough, hear the noises, and in a couple more yards see this 50-something guy, graying hair, leather jacket, but clearly completely wasted. And he starts spewing every few steps... bleh.
The "good" news is that at least when I got back uptown, it was pouring rain, so I walked through enough puddles and the like that my shoes were completely clean... and didn't dry til Friday night.
So Friday night I'm coming home from the grocery store, and it's dark, and I'm crossing my street in Harlem. And I come up behind this white guy, maybe 30s, wearing a Kiss jacket and looking kinda weird. I stop next to him near the median while semi-jaywalking across the bridge (speaking of, can't wait for the 145th St. Bridge to be fixed, so the traffic situation improves -- sick of playing Chicken with left-turners).
He turns to me and says "Sup cracka?"
(and a part of me is like, "Well, at least SOMEONE said it finally!")
Today, was walking through midtown to get to the theatre where my friend's show was going up. Decided to walk by 43rd St. and saw a HUGE fight between one of those pedicab drivers and a taxi driver. Stupid, stupid passenger had doored the pedicab driver and there was this big old altercation -- the dooring had knocked the guy's right rear wheel into the curb and completely destroyed it, and also had damaged the cab door so it would no longer shut. So, of course I stopped to watch for a bit -- I mean, I was once hurt a good deal by getting doored, and wanted to see what went down. And while it was a screaming match, I was certainly naturally siding with the bike-riding guy, who was keeping it clean mostly -- only ethnicity reference was that the cab driver was "lucky we let [him] in this country," which while a cheap shot, is, as racist comments go, pretty mild. Anyway, here's a bike guy who (if he is to be believed) teaches bike safety, who got *doored* by some idiot cab passenger -- it's pretty clear who's at fault. And that's precisely the person who will suffer the least from it all -- the idiot who couldn't check out the window before opening a door. Because c'mon people, how do you NOT SEE a pedicab?
And it's tough not to have sympathy for each side. I realized, as walking away, that what I wanted to have happen was for the cabbie to pay for the damage out-of-pocket (which would be trouble enough) but without insurance, he may well lose his job, and his livelihood, and actually get deported. At the same time, he done wrong, and I'd hate to see the bike-rider suffer for the actions of an idiotic city that worships car privileges and fails to take account of the other people trying to use the road. At least bike-guy got the other one's license and registration...
OK, I think that's it for the random stories from me now.
Thursday, coming home from late tutoring at the TPR office near Grand Central. I'm trying to get to the 5 train to get home. I open the door from the terminal into the subway area and nearly slip over something or another at the doorway. Then I notice that my left shoe is giving very little traction, feels like I stepped in a puddle of oil. Then I noticed, every 8 feet or so, puddles of vomit on the side wall. I think, "wow, somebody's having a rough night."
Then it occurs to me what I stepped in and why my shoe was slick. Ew.
So I keep walking towards the train and, sure enough, hear the noises, and in a couple more yards see this 50-something guy, graying hair, leather jacket, but clearly completely wasted. And he starts spewing every few steps... bleh.
The "good" news is that at least when I got back uptown, it was pouring rain, so I walked through enough puddles and the like that my shoes were completely clean... and didn't dry til Friday night.
So Friday night I'm coming home from the grocery store, and it's dark, and I'm crossing my street in Harlem. And I come up behind this white guy, maybe 30s, wearing a Kiss jacket and looking kinda weird. I stop next to him near the median while semi-jaywalking across the bridge (speaking of, can't wait for the 145th St. Bridge to be fixed, so the traffic situation improves -- sick of playing Chicken with left-turners).
He turns to me and says "Sup cracka?"
(and a part of me is like, "Well, at least SOMEONE said it finally!")
Today, was walking through midtown to get to the theatre where my friend's show was going up. Decided to walk by 43rd St. and saw a HUGE fight between one of those pedicab drivers and a taxi driver. Stupid, stupid passenger had doored the pedicab driver and there was this big old altercation -- the dooring had knocked the guy's right rear wheel into the curb and completely destroyed it, and also had damaged the cab door so it would no longer shut. So, of course I stopped to watch for a bit -- I mean, I was once hurt a good deal by getting doored, and wanted to see what went down. And while it was a screaming match, I was certainly naturally siding with the bike-riding guy, who was keeping it clean mostly -- only ethnicity reference was that the cab driver was "lucky we let [him] in this country," which while a cheap shot, is, as racist comments go, pretty mild. Anyway, here's a bike guy who (if he is to be believed) teaches bike safety, who got *doored* by some idiot cab passenger -- it's pretty clear who's at fault. And that's precisely the person who will suffer the least from it all -- the idiot who couldn't check out the window before opening a door. Because c'mon people, how do you NOT SEE a pedicab?
And it's tough not to have sympathy for each side. I realized, as walking away, that what I wanted to have happen was for the cabbie to pay for the damage out-of-pocket (which would be trouble enough) but without insurance, he may well lose his job, and his livelihood, and actually get deported. At the same time, he done wrong, and I'd hate to see the bike-rider suffer for the actions of an idiotic city that worships car privileges and fails to take account of the other people trying to use the road. At least bike-guy got the other one's license and registration...
OK, I think that's it for the random stories from me now.