I have two words to describe New York City today. And the first one is Cluster.
There was a big storm during the night. Heavy rain, lightning, the whole bit. It stopped before I left for work, so no problem, right? Wrong.
Every train into, out of, and around the city was flooded. Most of them were closed down. Moments like these make me embarrassed for the city. You want to host the Olympics, but your public transportation system can completely melt down from heavy rain? Seriously?!?!?! With a track record like that, you’re lucky if you can get The Wiggles to perform at Madison Square Garden.
It’s, according to the thermometer in front of the NewsCorp building, 89°. Humidity is about 100%. Which makes the subway platforms, oh, about FOUR HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX FREAKING DEGREES!!! At one point, I was sweating so badly, that it was actually dripping off my nose. It’s a classy look, in case any of you are thinking of adopting it for your own. My 25-minute commute took 2 hours. And the question I was asking myself, was, naturally, “Why do I live in this wretched city???”
But of course, dear readers, I have a theory. Did you expect anything less? New York City is never going to be just somewhere you live. Some days it’s a fierce opponent, some days an ally. But it’s always a factor. There will always be those days, what I call the “Why do I live in this wretched city?” moments. And yes, they blow. Hard. But there’s something else, too. There are the “I love New York” moments. And those, well they can be so magical, so absolutely perfect, that it makes it all worth it. Sometimes it’s a big thing, but usually it’s not. Maybe it’s being able to go out for sushi at two in the morning, or a roof party, or free tickets to a Broadway show, or just walking through the Village on a spring evening, feeling sorry for anyone who doesn’t get to be me. As long as I get just one perfect “I love New York” moment for every three “Wretched city” moments, I feel like the balance still tilts in the right direction. Today this is a wretched city, but before long I’ll be loving New York again.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Wretched City
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4 comments:
Having a great day too are you? They actually saying it might have been a tornado, so it must've been some storm.
You're getting less tolerant in your old age. Or the city is actually improving and deserves an apology. It used to be a one to five ratio.
But the Wiggles in Madison Square Garden dig? That was brilliant.
When I developed the one to five rule, I still though a thousand dollars was a lot of money, and it was fine to date a guy who had mostly stopped seeing his last girlfriend. A girl's gotta raise her standards as she matures.
Would you believe I've never even been to NYC! What is public transportation anyway? Oh, you mean people have to take a train or bus or cab? Phew, I almost passed out.....
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