Wednesday, October 29, 2008

 

How a preacher made me late

When I was on my way to meet Carrie for our walk across the Brooklyn Bridge two Sundays back, I decided to not listen to music. But I did carry my iPod with me. You never know when there will be a group of loud people; a person who believes him or herself to be so brilliant or funny that everyone on the train deserves to share their wit or brilliance; a person whose house burned down/wife left him/had everything stolen/is trying to get his life back on track/doesn’t steal…… or perhaps….

A preacher got on. It was a short stop, so I tuned him out without music. But the carriage I was in must have been full of sinners who needed their souls to be saved, because after a one stop break, he came back! Enough! I went for the music.

A few minutes later, as the doors were closing at Pacific Street, I caught the tail end of an announcement from the conductor: Trains were diverted over the Manhattan Bridge from the next stop. I would not be able to get to Downtown Manhattan on the local train. I got off at the next stop, doubled back to Pacific Street and took a different train line from there to our meeting point.

Now I suppose I could claim that the MTA should have had signs up about the change of service. And the conductor should have made announcements during the first several stops also, instead of only the last two before the re-routing. But if it wasn’t for the preacher, I would have heard the announcement the first time. Perhaps some people feel that Jesus saved them. Indeed, had I not turned on my music and drowned out the sermon, he could have saved me 20 minutes!

I meant to blog this a week ago, but was reminded of it while coming home late from my second date with Jan, whose name, I trust and hope, will be become a fixture on this blog. On the longest stop of the journey, going across the Manhattan Bridge, a woman got on. I couldn’t hear her words even though she stood right next to me, but I thought she was a crazy person. Slap my wrist! I thought she was challenged by reality. Between tracks of my music, I figured out that she was preaching. And a woman who had been reading her book, just like me 9 days earlier, decided enough was enough, and put on her music. And I was amused; not alone in the anonymous yet interesting world of mass transit.

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An amusing New York Subway moment

On the 3-seat bench on the R train, the only seat taken is the one to the right, directly across from me, by a man sitting in his own world, as we all tend to do at least sometimes. A young man almost jumps into the seat right next to him, in a way you might expect one young friend to sit next to another. The already seated man looked at him quizzically, with a wtf expression I can fully understand. And I laughed! The other man saw me, and he laughed! The young man was obviously unaware of our amusement. I chuckled for a while longer before re-entering my own little world….sort of!

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Saturday, October 25, 2008

 

Term limits in NYC: The Bloomberg disgrace

I am not casting judgment on Michael Bloomberg as Mayor. I am also not considering whether it is right or wrong for Mayors to be eligible to serve for 3 terms. Each of those things has become irrelevant.

In 1993, the people of New York City voted for term limits. They voted that the Mayor of their city, along with City Council members, may not hold office more than twice.

On Thursday, October 23rd 2009, the City Council voted that they and the Mayor may run for a third term. Before doing so, they voted against an amendment requiring a referendum.

This is truly disgraceful. The people of New York City have been completely disrespected. Their voted wishes have been overturned by a power hungry Mayor and 29 cronies.

None of these 30 people should receive a single vote in next year’s elections. Maybe many of them would have been re-elected. But New Yorkers must use the election in 2009 as if it were the referendum they have been denied:

1. Do you think you should have had the chance to decide whether or not to keep the term limits? Vote the opponent.

2. Do you agree that it is OK that what you voted should be overturned by 30 elected officials? Vote for them again.

Simple really!

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Wednesday, October 22, 2008

 

Walking on the Brooklyn Bridge



I had done this once before: September 10th, 1981. And that time, it wasn’t planned. A power sub-generator had caught fire in Downtown Manhattan and, having been stuck on a train for a very long time, an announcement was made that no trains were going into Brooklyn. So my old friend Carolyn and I walked, along with many others, over the bridge. That time, I couldn’t really enjoy it. I was supposed to move back to England that evening.

We had been visiting our friend Arline, who was working on Central Park South with another great friend, Rob. I had moved out of my apartment and shipped my stuff home, so was staying at Arline’s place. We left Central Park at least 5 hours before my plane was due to leave. And arrived after what should have been no more than an hour long journey, 40 minutes before I should have been hitting the skies.

Fortunately, it was 1981 and not 2008, because the airline put me on a flight the next day without any penalty to me. And Carolyn, Arline and Rob are all still great friends. As, now, is Carrie. And it is with her that I strolled across from on the reverse direction on Sunday. No such exciting stories to tell.

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New York's cheapest BJ?


Ahem!

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How stupid is the MTA?

OK. That’s obviously a rhetorical question. Every morning, they run W trains from Coney Island into Manhattan. What’s wrong with that? The W starts in lower Manhattan and heads into Queens. The train in Brooklyn states on it’s ELECTRONIC DISPLAY BOARD that the train starts at Whitehall Street Manhattan. It’s electronic for fucks sake! Why don’t they just program it to say that the train starts at Coney Island!

This evening, on my way home, I was waiting for an R train at 36th Street in Brooklyn. A W came. The conductor made 10 or more announcements that the train was running on the R line. It’s an electronic display! What’s wrong with these people. Change the W to an R and nobody would be confused and the conductor wouldn’t have to constantly repeat that the train is running as an R. Too simple for them, I fear. And too logical. But am I surprised? I started with a rhetorical question, so I might as well finish with one!

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Friday, October 17, 2008

 

You picked on the wrong cat, sucker!


I think the cat's saying "the world isn't big enough for you to hide in. I'm going to find you, you mother fucker. And I'm going to get my revenge. Over and over again I'm going to get my revenge. You think you've ruined my life? We are enemies unto the death!"

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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

 

Vernon Jordan

I was enjoying the beautiful sunshine shortly after 2pm on Wednesday, sitting on a bench in Rockefeller Plaza, when the man next to me called out: “Are you Vernon Jordan?” to the immaculate gentleman who was passing by. “Yes I am”, was the smiling response, as he stepped back towards his questioner.

“Well thank you for getting JC Penney to leave the City”
“I was not responsible for that”
“A lot of jobs were lost and about two-thirds of them were for minorities”
“I agree it wasn’t good”
“The company has suffered because of it”
“Their stock price is $22.” (I checked. It was)
And this idiot sitting next to me kept on hammering while Mr. Jordan said that the rumours about his involvement weren’t true; that he knew a lot more about the situation than his assailant and that he voted against whatever the proposal was that made them leave.

Overall, I have to say that I was most impressed with the way Vernon Jordan handled and eventually extricated himself. The man next to me settled back into his conversation with the woman he was sitting with. I was considerably more interested in reading 100 years of solitude than I was in their discussion, but she did seem to raise her voice - a suggestion perhaps that she thought she was being particularly enlightened and profound - as she stated: “I’m a believer in raising taxes”. Bit of a blanket statement there, lady!

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Every freakin time I go to the freaking gym…

….the worst freakin song in I can’t think how many freakin years comes on the freakin radio. Basically, it goes on for a little short of a lifetime, repeating the main verse “every freakin day and every freakin night I wanna freaking baby every freakin way” on what seems to be a 10 second sound loop. I have taken to asking the guy behind the desk to change the channel when it comes on. I can see suspending one’s usual music taste at clubs, when the beat is what counts. But seriously people! How can you listen to this freakin shit on the radio!!!

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Sunday, October 12, 2008

 

Sarah Palin is stupid. Ergo, Sarah Palin supporters are stupid

This is getting serious. This woman goes to rallies and whips the conservative moron wing of the Republican Party into a frenzy over such things as how a person Barack Obama palled with when he was 8 year old was a known terrorist. There are some bad 8 year olds, it is true, but does this make everyone who knew Hitler when he was 8, friends with the most evil person of the 20th century and therefore terrible people? Does it make everyone who know Martin Luther King or Gandhi when they were 8, wonderful people in their own right?

She whips up a frenzy among people who claim that America is now more Socialist than China. Yes folks, her supporters are that smart. Smart enough and nice enough to not vote Obama because he is an Arab!!!!! Where do these people get this stuff from! I repeat a claim I made in an earlier post: These are people who would vote for a decomposing Ronald Reagan if he was the Republican candidate. They would probably claim that his silence denoted strength and that he won all debates. We are not talking about people playing with a full deck here folks! But along with the criminals who are busily trying to strike as many Democratic voters off the voting register as possible, these are the people who may decide the election.

Palin claims to be a foreign policy expert and McCain claims her to be one of the world’s leading experts on energy. But she can’t give straight answers. She cannot think on her feet. All she can do is attack. This woman would be a doddering and sick old man’s heartbeat away from the Presidency. All this Country First stuff might play well with insular idiots who think that the USA can survive in this world without friends, but I have news for them that they will be either too stupid to understand or too ignorant to want to: IT ISN’T SO!

I can just imagine this woman meeting world leaders and trying to bully them to her ways. She, of obvious little intelligence and with no experience or knowledge or capacity to do anything other than attack, lie and memorise what her advisers teach her, would be pummelling intelligent and experienced world leaders? The people who are already aware that George Bush has made this country a standing unfortunate joke in world terms will be well aware that Palin would make him seem like Henry Kissinger. And the people who don’t see that are probably too dim-witted to see anything.

Now when it comes to opinions, I am perfectly accepting of differing opinions and happy to agree to differ. Indeed, no matter how moronic a person is or how dangerous or pathetic what passes for their reasoning might be, they are entitled to their own opinions. However, in this particular case, I have no patience for those who support McCain or particularly Palin. All great empires come to an end though, but few can ever have plummeted so far and so fast as 8 months of President Palin following on from 8 years of W would surely precipitate.


Not convinced by words? Then watch!

She is a Foreign policy expert….

…. and an Energy expert….

…. Who doesn’t read newspapers

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Tuesday, October 07, 2008

 

The thirty-nine steps

Who’d’ve thought that a Hitchcock film could have been turned into a comedy! Certainly when I told my mother, she didn’t believe it. But I have to say folks, you should catch this while it’s still on. The upper tier wasn’t filled and even though tickets were on sale at half price, the lower tiers didn’t entirely sell out. So I doubt this will be around for too long.

All parts are played by 4 people. To be more precise, the 3 female parts are taken by one woman and the male lead takes only one part. All other parts are taken by two men who work very hard; sometimes switching between 3 characters by simply changing their hat. It makes for great slapstick And the actors/characters are very likeable, so as soon as you see them wearing a new hat or coat, you laugh.

Being that my mother’s mobility it rather compromised, she took a while getting to and returning from the ladies room, which is downstairs. And by the time we left, 3 of the actors (pictured) were outside, along with another fellow (in the blue vest) who obviously worked on the production.

Amusingly, and I wish I had a video to show this, although the ladies room is only accessible via stairs, there is a handicapped stall. That’s obviously a legal requirement, but I wonder how handicapped people are supposed to get there in the first place!

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Rockport, Massachusetts

I brought my mother to Boston for a couple of days. She was hoping to see the famous New England Fall leaf colours. On our first evening, my friend Carrie picked us up from South Station and we went see Andre Previn conduct the Boston Symphony.

For day two, Sean came in from Amherst and Heidi drove us all to Rockport. What a stunningly beautiful place. I took so many pictures, I will let the few I’ve selected do the talking.

For day three, we went to the downtown area where I used to work, and which I have missed. Mum loved the trip and it confirmed for me that I have to come back to Boston for regular visits. It is such a great place. As much as I love New York and its excitement and energy, people in Boston are just so very nice, and the city is so easy. If my life didn’t centre around New York, I could easily live here. Then again, if I did, I’d miss New York! Oh, well. It was a lovely little trip.


I want this house!







Sean, my Mum and Heidi

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Saturday, October 04, 2008

 

Hold the presses! My block is clear of road works – for now.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I got home yesterday. My block is open to 2 side parking and there are no lanes blocked off. Unbe-fucking-lievable. 7 months, almost to the day since they started digging. There are a couple of the ‘workmen’s’ vehicles parked, as they have expanded the hole across 4th Avenue, and obviously need to put their diggers somewhere, but what seemed as if would never happen, finally has.

I wonder when the road surfacers will show up and tear it all up again, and how long after that some other crew will be back to do some more ‘work’!

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Palin’s debate: A piss poor performance which hugely exceeded expectations

Over 30% thought she won? Well 60 million voted for a second term for Bush, so there really is no shortage of stupid voters in this country. She entirely ignored the first several non-energy related questions, choosing instead to talk about energy. Oddly, I have read little about this.

Her little nods and winks were awful. People are taken in by that folksy stuff? Sorry, but that’s pathetic. And how many of her answers were clearly memorised by rote? I congratulate her teachers and admit that she does have a great memory. But am entirely unconvinced that she can think on her feet. For me, she is Dan Quayle with thighs. She can wink at the damned fool men who will be swayed by such things; cross her legs and show a few inches of thigh – things that wouldn’t have worked too well for the unfortunate Mr. Quayle. But I no more want her as my President than I wanted him. Actually, as I write that, I realise I am being unfair to Quayle. He seemed like a very nice man.

How many people reading this actually think that John McCain is the candidate for change? Question 2: On what grounds do you think that?




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Finally, OJ Simpson can rest!

How many years ago was it that he said he wouldn’t rest until ‘the real killers’ were found? Well he will have plenty of time to rest now!

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