As I drove into Manhattan via the Lincoln Tunnel, I popped the CD of "Topsy-Turvy" in and just as I exited onto Dyer Drive, the overture blared forth and I entered the city with a show tune blasting out the windows. Then got stuck in traffic. One thing about NY -- they do love to cut major thoroughfares down by two lanes to do some kind of work or other...or just double and triple park for no reason -- thus snarling traffic. Add in pedestrians who think a stopped car means walk across the intersection whether you have the light or not, and you've got a good idea of what madness comes from driving in this city. That's why Daniel hated it so much; it's easier and less maddening to use mass transit to get where you need to go.
Not that the subway was better. I was meeting my buddy, Brad Rushing, for dinner at the Pig & Whistle on 48th by Rock Center. My hotel is a block from a station that would drop me right by the restaurant...but this weekend no trains were running through it into the city. Couldn't even get down to the platform. You can get OUT of Manhattan on the F line; you just can't go in unless you ride two stops in the wrong direction and transfer to another line that lets you off 5 blocks from where you want to be. Moan.
Still, we connected and went to a different P&W that had a better selection on its menu...and he got them to agree to make him a Penne alla Vodka that they didn't have but was offered at a different P&W. Seems these joints don't have a standardized menu. But we sat on an outdoor balcony and drank beers and talked and dissed the right wing and religious fanatical scum and let the day turn to night before trying to find a potato chip hut built by Lays in Times Square for some competition. Nothing to be seen...except for crowds out the wazoo milling about and taking pictures and talking in a thousand different languages.
One thing about NYC -- if you live here, it won't let you get complacent. The second you think you have it figured out, it'll snap something new at you and you better be ready.
Such is life in the big city.
Not that the subway was better. I was meeting my buddy, Brad Rushing, for dinner at the Pig & Whistle on 48th by Rock Center. My hotel is a block from a station that would drop me right by the restaurant...but this weekend no trains were running through it into the city. Couldn't even get down to the platform. You can get OUT of Manhattan on the F line; you just can't go in unless you ride two stops in the wrong direction and transfer to another line that lets you off 5 blocks from where you want to be. Moan.
Still, we connected and went to a different P&W that had a better selection on its menu...and he got them to agree to make him a Penne alla Vodka that they didn't have but was offered at a different P&W. Seems these joints don't have a standardized menu. But we sat on an outdoor balcony and drank beers and talked and dissed the right wing and religious fanatical scum and let the day turn to night before trying to find a potato chip hut built by Lays in Times Square for some competition. Nothing to be seen...except for crowds out the wazoo milling about and taking pictures and talking in a thousand different languages.
One thing about NYC -- if you live here, it won't let you get complacent. The second you think you have it figured out, it'll snap something new at you and you better be ready.
Such is life in the big city.
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