6:35 a.m. A cacophony of car horns. I lie there wondering what is the cause of the irregular honking. And then it stops. And then it starts up again. I look out of my bedroom window and see that the traffic light on the North corner of the street is stuck. The North flow traffic …
Author Archives: The Chronicler
The Day of the Drunken Santas
It’s Saturday. At first I noticed a Santa at 10 am and thought he must be on his way to a gig. Then as I was out and about I began to see other Santa Clauses, too many for one day of attending to kids in the City. I asked one white-bearded young man. His …
Signs
[The bottom of the black door is visible just above the cement threshold in the photo left. The foreground in the second photo is press board, that stops one from stepping into the abyss.] Really don’t know which part of this tickles my fancy most. Is it the wording of the sign, beginning with ‘warning’ …
Priceless
The phone rings loudly, harshly. She digs around in her purse to find it. With a loud ‘Hello’, she answers it. She listens for a few seconds and then in the same loud voice, her next words are: ‘I’m sitting in a computer class, taking a test’. As she snaps the phone shut, a couple …
Shopping
As I passed them in the aisle, I heard her ask him, ‘Shall I stand in line for you?’. We were all in Trader Joe’s on Saturday afternoon, which is about as close to organized madness as one will find. The line for the checkout, which is actually a double line, stretches the length of …
More 5th Avenue
One of my favorite sights: the ultra-expensive jewel-box jewelry store with million dollar bling in the plate-glass front window while on the corner outside a hotdog-pretzel-seller at his cart is sending up smoke clouds as he fires up his grill. It costs to walk down 5th Avenue at Christmas. Dollars to the unique percussion performer …
5th Avenue
One way to experience the Retail Christmas Season is hailing a cab at the Plaza Hotel at 12:30 am and driving south on 5th Avenue, hitting the wave of green lights and thus, not having quite enough time to look both right and left to take in the lights and sights. Your ride begins passing …
Shoes
Consciously noting the shoes on the feet around, in front of, and beside me, is thought provoking. Ballet-type slippers on girls with nimble feet, leopard print flats on sleek, hair-helmeted blondes of a certain age, gucci fabric loafers on moms in tight jeans with four year olds in tow, florescent green soles on sport shoes …
Under the Gun
To learn more I often try a different entrance to the subway. Tuesday I decided to try an unused-by-me-entrance at Christopher St. The turnstile gates appeared directly at the bottom of the stairs, which I had not expected. One needs to be able to make a choice about the direction of train travel: north or …
Signs
There it was. A key. Lying just a mere foot from the curb at the corner of 11th & 4th, a unique looking key a bit bigger than usual, ornate at the top. Monday morning. Did a female give it to a guy and he dropped it after they went their separate ways? Or some …