New York Moment du Jour

My eyes burned from glaring all day into two bright monitors which had been glaring right back at me. I was walking out of my office building at 10:30PM and I had just clocked in another 14 hour work day.

To my unpleasant surprise I walked out into a rainy New York night. One of those drizzles that isn't necessarily enough to warrant an umbrella, but just enough to get you all fuzzy with water droplets that eventually bunch up and quite suddenly leave you a sopping wet mess.

As I walked towards the subway I joined the rest of the New Yorkers who, regardless of what time of day or night it is, enjoy walking at speeds that give light a run for its money. And it wasn't just the New Yorkers who were busy, it seemed the "City that Never Sleeps" was being particularily true to its name tonight. The streets were packed with cars, the stop lights were packed with eager pedestrians on every corner waiting for their turn to keep on trucking, the noises were present, the ungodly smells, the bright lights and all of the unique idiosincracies that go hand in hand with New York accompanied me as I began my much anticiapted commute home.

Half way down the block I walked under the scafolding which is lining the New Yorker hotel. This, at first, would seem like a blessing protecting me from the rain, but in fact as most New Yorkers now know, in rainy season a scaffolding is nothing more than a gignatic metal boobie trap. The science of how it works is as follows: (1) I walk under the scaffolding, (2) water that accumulates overheard finds it way to the part where one scaffolding partition meets the other at exactly the moment I walk under it. Therefore, scaffolding is the urban equivalent of having somebody pour a bucket of water on your head at periodic intervals.

As I proceeded to exit the gauntlet (a.k.a. the scaffolding) and reached the corner, I found myself in the position to make a choice of important bearing. It appeared that I was being advised to "Not Walk", however the line of cars waiting for the green light had not yet noticed that their time-out was up and that they were free again to reign wild. My choices were to either risk my life crossing the street at the gamble of being struck by a rampant cab drive eager to get to point B, or stand paitently in the rain for two minutes until the all-knowing stop-sign advised me to "Walk.".

- I didn't hesitate. My legs took me forward in a quick jerking fashion, and I was not alone in my decision. A group of five of us sprinted forward, determined to suceed.

But we were also not alone in our decision. Accompanying us came a homeless guy.

He ran ahead coming up from far behind and he was crazy. I did a double take as I saw him run past me, literally running in a zig-zag fasion and offering all pedestrians who appeared in his plane of sight free cab rides in the empty baby-stroller he was pushing.

The rest of us kept crossing the street and were halfway there when the homeless guy turned around and ran in our direction. We quickly diverted our route to avoid an awkward collision, but he surprised us once more when he turned around again and sprinted faster than a frightend gazelle down the side walk dodging innocent bystanders - the whole way yelling:

"Who needs a cab ride! Free cab ride, hop on board!!!"

The NewYork moment struck me five seconds later when the man had disappered behind some corner. I looked around me to gauge my fellow pedestrian's reactions. Not one of them seemed to acknowledge that anything strange had happend. They all too quickly fell back to their inner world and kept on trucking like one does in New York.

Only in New York is acting suprised considered an inefficient waste of time.

A 2 and a 7 in that order...