Photo of NYers on Brooklyn Bridge

Here was the scene Tuesday morning as commuters walked across the Brooklyn Bridge.

The Big Apple Slows Down

You've probably heard about the transit strike here in New York City. After 3 days without a contract, the transit union decided to go on strike, halting all bus and subway transportation in this bustling city. I'm torn about allegiences here; on one hand, I like to support the working people, on the other hand, I'm miffed that the union didn't seem to try very hard to reach an agreement with the MTA (Metro Transit Authority?).

People's responses were interesting to see though. Some NYers were all for the striking union. Mostly these were people who walked to work anyway, or didn't have to get anywhere this week. Others were completely outraged, taking the strike as almost a personal insult. The mayor was a hoot, as usual, saying he would "walk with the people" across the Brooklyn Bridge Tuesday morning. He's hardly in touch with "the people", given that his election campaign was something like $78 million of his own money.

Normally, traffic up by where we live is pretty tame. One might venture so far as to call it quiet. Even though there are traffic lights everywhere, a pedestrian can be fairly certain to cross at leisure against the green light because there are so few cars.

Tuesday morning, however, traffic was bumper-to-bumper and completely gridlocked. Toby estimated that, a block south of where we live, cars were moving about 5-10 min per block. To put this in perspective, one could walk those same blocks in about 20-30 seconds. (Maybe even a minute, if you had to carry a large, heavy box home from the post office, as I got to experience last week!) It sounded like we'd been transported to mid-town, with constant honking.

A note on honking while driving. You honk if someone cuts you off. You honk if a pedestrian starts to cross in front of you. You honk if you recognize the person in the next car over. You honk if the light turns green and aren't driving at top speed already. You honk if the light is red. You honk if you're bored. Or if you're happy. Or if you hear a new song on the radio. Or an old familiar one.

Anyway, it was cacophony along Riverside Drive Tuesday morning! Oddly enough, streets 30 blocks south of us were empty! The "contingency plan" put in place by our humble mayor required all vehicles driving into the city south of 96th Street to have 4 or more passengers, no exceptions. I assume the lack of traffic south of us meant that no one wanted STRANGERS in their precious cars, and so chose to enter the island north of 96th Street.

Oddly, Wednesday morning, traffic was back to normal up by where we live. Did people start picking up stranded strangers from the sides of the roads? Did people opt to stay home for the day? I'll never know why!

I must admit I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard yesterday afternoon that the strike would be over. Phew! Now I can venture downtown to the garment district (??) and get some stuffing. The kind that you put in teddy bears, not the kind you put in turkeys.

Adjusting to a late autumn

This photo was taken from our living room window on Nov 14th. You might notice a lot of colourful leaves left on the branches. It's weird having winter arrive so late! It snowed over the weekend and more snow is expected to fall tonight. There's a "Winter Storm Warning" issued - 3-6 inches of snow. I'm hoping the warning is for the rain/sleet tomorrow afternoon, because a few inches of snow shouldn't be devastating!

A GOOD people-experience in the city!

Today, we were having lunch at a local Japanese restaurant. (Many restaurants have lunch specials, and since it's difficult to cook in our tiny kitchen, we've opted for a lot of take out / cheap meals out.) Anyway....

As is typical here, we were placed very close to the neighbouring tables. On one side of us, Toby overheard two women talking about visiting other countries. One asked, "Does Canada count?" Her friend replied, "Oh, Canada's just a suburb of America!" Toby turns to them and pipes in "Not a chance!" That started a short, but friendly, conversation. The one who joked that Canada was just a suburb was horrified and really wanted to believe we weren't Canadian. She even offered to buy Toby a drink to make up for her insensitive joke, We just had a good laugh and said that Canadians often say that we're just another State!

On the other side of us, one of the eaters complained about American money. "Why can't the US make money like everyone else? With colour!" I'm guessing she's Canadian too!

It was a nice change to have a friendly conversation with New Yorkers!