NYC

I just get into Manhattan, driving down 55th street, and go through the intersection at…I think it was like 5th Ave. and as I’m passing THROUGH the intersection, the light changes to yellow, and as I get to the other side it turns red. Now I clearly not blocking the box-YET I get waved over by a traffic cop and proceed to get a $115 ticket for running the red light. But there is no point in arguing these things-even though I told him that I was from the area and had never heard of such a thing before. He told me at least he didn’t give me a ticket for blocking the box and addiny points onto my license. I smiled and thanked him. My mom can’t get mad about it because before I left she told me not get any SPEEDING tickets, and this clearly is not a speeding ticket.
Now that’s pretty bad-I think much worse than the piece of plastic that has come loose in front of my front driver’s side wheel. It happened once before-a couple months ago-but I just kinda forced it back into place. So I hear this noise as I am driving in CT, and figure that must be what it is. But I didn’t want to pull over because I was listening to a show that I wanted to hear all the way through (first prize for who ever can guess the show that would keep me from pulling over) but after a while I figured I better stop. So I stop at a rest stop, push the plastic back up and go on my merry way. Well about 15 minutes later I hear it again, but this time I am not planning on stopping-I figure when I park in Manhattan I will just fix it. The noise isn’t that bad if you are driving fast. When you have to crawl through city streets…everyone stares like you are the Queen of Romania and your wig is on sideways. Does Romania even have a queen? Is there even still a Romania? I park in a garage-the guy looks at me and says something along the lines of “what the hell is that?” I get out of the car-fix it AGAIN-this time with a little more force-and leave the car.
One of the things I love most about Manhattan is that people who have NEVER been here before look like they have been dropped off in the middle of a war and they have no idea where to go or what to do. These two sweet little Southern ladies come up to me while I am ordering lunch and ask me where the subway is. I happen to have walked past a station so I tell them two blocks up and to the right. Then they ask me where the Hilton is…now the subway I can fake. That’s easy. Midtown there is a station like ever other block so you can’t really go THAT wrong. The Hilton? “Which Hilton?” They didn’t know-why would they? They’re only staying there. They didn’t really seem to care that much and were happy enough to have a vague clue where the subway was-so off they went. God speed little Southern ladies. When I am on Atlanta or Savannah I hope people are slightly more clued in as to where to send lost tourists.
I forgot to mention that this morning right after I left my house-I called into Matty in the Morning for the Right Now part of the show, and actually got on the air! After being on hold for 25 minutes, I got on-told them about my trip (which they were envious of, or so I like to pretend) they played “On the road again” and some audio clips from “Deliverance” and that was that.
So hereI am. Day one eating lunch all by myself in NYC. My friend Vicki will be horrified that I am eating alone-we talked last summer about how it kinda scares both of us. But it’s nice actually. I can sit and type and watch people-be the quiet observer. The girl sitting next to me is alone too-she doesn’t seem at happy. But her tortellini salad looks VERY good-so that’s a plus for her. I have like a little more than an hour to kill before seeing The Wiz-so I might walk down to the drama bookshop-and I can’t remember if the Virigin Megastore is still open or not.
I’m rambling. Is that the point? Don’t get bored-I’m sure more exciting things will happen!