Arising from our sick bed this morning (the flu is in retreat), we behold the city on day THREE of the strike. It's sunny, cold, sorta beautiful with all the folks riding to work, but right outside our door we see a man and a woman get into a violent, name calling altercation. Are people getting grumpy?
(To All Open Threads)
I've been skateboarding 50 blocks to work down Broadway. I started getting tired today, and a biker rode past me and yelled "keep going!" in encouragement. It made me feel good. My achilles tendon is sore from peddling, though.
Don't know about grumpy, but definitely sore. I had about three hours of walking each way to get to work, including a Metro North ride. It went smoothly, but I cannot move my muscles today. The nice part about the whole thing was walking through new neighborhoods and stopping to pet LOTS OF DOGS on the way to and from work. Also talked with perfect strangers, which has not really happened since the last citywide crisis. I hope everyone has had a chance to enjoy the special nature of this 'crisis' and does not feel too stressed out by the lifestyle changes...
Maxwell, ginger beer works wonders on a sick person. If you have any friends from the Caribbean, just ask what their home remedies were as a child. Invariably their faces will light up and tell you about a magic concoction that includes mashed-up, boiled ginger, lemon and honey (possibly a few secret ingredients as well). I used this during my last cold and it was a miracle drink.
maybe the novelty has worn off after the first day of the strike. I
noticed yesterday more people frustrated about 25 dollar cab rides and long waits. i can understand, yesterday i took my dog to the vet 10 blocks away by cab ( he is a puppy, too far to walk)
and had to pay 10 dollars instead of the usual 3.50 dollars. i
wasn't happy about it, but i can't get upset since the situation iis out of my control.
I live in Brooklyn and don't have a problem with walking, but so far have been getting rides from people who need someone to be a fourth in their car, meeting an interesting and diverse group of people from my neighborhood. But I do notice people getting a little frazzled.
I've been fending off illness with Advil Cold & Flu - great stuff! Luckily working from home lets me avoid the "March of The Penguins" commute, as it was called on TV this morning. I did have a lovely walk to the PATH station on Christopher via Bedford last night. So pretty & quiet but I felt bad for the restaurant owners with so many empty tables.
Today I'm trekking up to Bed Bath & Beyond to get those 600 thread count sheets everyone's recommending. Got my 20% coupon in hand! Going to swing by West Elm with a discount postcard too....glad they're close to each other.
I guess people are tired, stressed by doing last minute christmas purchases in crowded shops, maybe they also have (too) high expectations on the upcoming holidays etc. I stopped celebrating christmas years ago, no pre-christmas stress, no christmas stress, just a quiet evening at home with a good dinner ahead ( foie gras poélé on salad, some salmon and coquilles st. jacques ).
I rode my bike yesterday from gowanus to midtown. 12 miles roundtrip. Manhattan was fantastic--calm, little traffic, and 5th Ave was replete with a huge bike lane.
Just over the bridge in Brooklyn, things got hairy. No cops, no traffic restrictions, so many cars, bikes and pedestrians. It was chaos. I got penned in, almost fell, was honked at excessively, scratched somebody's mirror with my handlebar, was cursed, saw another biker get struck and fall in the street (no one stopped, by the way, to assist except me!). And lots of old ladies desperate for van rides.
The very out of the way side street on which we live was clogged with honking traffic for hours.
Now I am excruciatingly saddle sore. And also disheartened by how nasty our officials and fellow citizens are towards the strikers. Can't wait to get out of dodge, tomorrow.
grumpy you ask?
well yes, yes i am ROYALLY GRUMPY
why?
b/c i am the only person on the copydesk where i work that can easily get into the office (i walk everyday as it is)
so on tues, i came in early, out of the goodness of my heart
did my boss thank me? no did i get to leave early? no
but, i was asked to come in early again on weds
again, thanks? no, early departure, no, in fact, i had to work almost 12 hours while the rest of my co-workers got to sit at home and work in their pjs
so, am i grumpy? YES
do i feel justified in this grumptitude? oh he** yeah
what am i going to do to remedy the situation?
drink a nice ole' bottle of champers when i get home tonight!
Ann - I'm sending you good vibes in a lousy work situation. I've been the person who made it in on snow days when everyone else whimpered and stayed home (and they had big ol' SUVs - I've got a little Saturn). I've had similar bosses and got stuck with similar hours. Hang in there.
A question about the strike (from someone out here on the west coast who is totally unfamiliar with east coast ways). I have a disability that serverly limits the amount of time I can stand and the distance I can walk - what would I do in your situation? I guess I'm just curious as the thought of it sort of freaks me out. Would I be trapped at home unable to get anywhere unless I had the cash to track down a cab and pay the hiked up costs? What about in an emergency? I don't know why this is so much on my mind - I guess I see all those tv shots of people walking miles to and from work and it makes me realize I couldn't do it (as much as I wish I could).
ann, after the strike is over your dedication to your job will be a feather in your cap. if your boss doesn't mention it, you can aways use it to your advantage in the future. happy cocktail hour tonight!
Libby,
Last night braving the streets I was very grateful for my youth and mobility--I empathized a great deal with those who CANNOT bike or walk.
The disabled/sick/elderly are the most vulnerable in these situations. If you needed it, an ambulance could get to you. But I think you'd probably be at the mercy of cabs and carpools. Unjust!
Hi Libby,
While I cannot speak from personal experience, I know from working with people with a disability that getting about the city can be a challenge, especially given a transit strike. There are services available such as shared vans and some taxis are equipped for wheel chairs, but the percentage of taxis that can accommodate a wheelchair is low and Ive heard that the vans can either be really great or late and overcrowded. Its been especially difficult for those with a disability to get around the past few days and I do think that yes, many have been forced to stay at home or have had to rely on taxis and carpools. I also know that it can be difficult for people without visible signs of a disability to gain understanding and support from others. In terms of an emergency, certain streets and avenues have been kept clear for emergency vehicles. I dont know how well that has worked out but it seems like an effective plan.
I really do believe that there is a strong sense of community and humanity here and that if you reached out, people would help you. Again, I cannot speak from personal experience, so this may just be idealistic thinking, but I really want to believe its true. Im in a graduate OT program right now and even in the middle of finals, classmates have been volunteering their time these past few days with various organizations to deliver medication, food, and assistive equipment to those who are having difficulty getting around.
I know that New Yorkers sometimes receive a bad reputation as being rough, rude and inconsiderate--and sometimes it is deserved--but the random acts of kindness I have witnessed far outweigh the negative. I think that NYC has a long way to go before the public transportation system works for those with a disability, yet I am still amazed by the resiliency I see in the individuals with a disability that navigate it each day.
Here is a link you may find interesting:
http://www.disabledriders.org/
thanks for the kind words ya'll
looks like there's light at the end of the (subway) tunnel afer all!!!!
Ann: Have a great evening, its over! Sneak a few days somewhere when you can and enjoy yourself. Sounds as though you did an admirable job. Good for you. I agree with Patrick, this is a feather in your cap. At some point in the future, it will be a card you can play, and if not, at least you did the right thing.
Be well!
Yes, I agree, grumpiness was beginning to kick in. Today in Starbucks, I asked a guy if my stepmother could sit in the chair next to him. This guy, who was not a Starbucks customer, but was waiting for transport, said "My girlfriend will be back in 10 minutes and she'll need to sit there." I said, "That's fine, but could my stepmother sit there until she gets here?" He said, "No." Lovely. After that, I was quite obnoxious to him, but he didn't seem to care.
This was after we were told it would be $45 for us to get to the Natural History Museum from Grand Central, and then, of course, it would be $45 back--so $90 roundtrip on a cab ride that would probably normally cost $20. Glad the strike has now ended, though they really missed out on many things they had been hoping to see.
I must have been a VERY good boy this year to have missed the strike. But I was sending sympathy thoughts from Ft Lauderdale, which STILL is a little ragged and reeling from Hurricane Wilma...
Would it be terrible and awful for me to say on yea, this Christmas/Hannukah Eve, that so far the 21st century has been a certifiable suckfest?
Yes, it probably would. But the 2000's are making the 30's look like the 50's!
Yes, there is a grumpitudinous formation on my forehead. I don't mind all the walking I've done this week--it was a challenge that NYers had to rise to, and I think as a city we've just gotten accustomed to dealing. And being a hapless supporting cast the the actions of neurotic rich and/or disgruntled people. WHOA! Negative. Sorry.
This has been an interesting week, am we're all tired from the holiday/cardio combo, but the weather's become a bit more mild this weekend which makes things easier, and the city is never more beautiful IMHO than it is now, when it's all twinkly and velvety.
Funny thing--the strike ended, but most people said, "screw this noise" by Wednesday and Thurs/Fri became a bit of a wash for a lot of people I know who just left town early. (there were a lot of Eric Cartman "screw you gahs, I'm going hooome" impressions at work) I think NYers, for all their dealing with energy, have also had it up to the collective 'here'.
A couple of guys I work with drove a van around offering $5 rides to people and wound up making it exclusive to people such as the elderly and disabled who had trouble getting around. They were out for two days and were stopped several times by cops, but they got everyone to where they were going. They rock.
I wonder if we could organize an NYC "commuter walkout" in January? One day where as much of New York as possible refuses to get on a bus, subway or cab?
Let's make it a Monday so we all also get a nice 3-day weekend out of it, too. ;)
How 'bout it, ATers?
PatrickTOO, that is a Hayley Mills scathingly brilliant idea.
I think it's more than high time people stop putting up with the nonsense, in all aspects of their lives. And there's enough nonsense around that makes me wish it could be converted into an energy source, thus severing our dependence on the Middle East.
How many of us have jobs where you get to retire at 55 years old? Hunh? If I had a business that had suffered under the strike I would probably never forgive either party in that little labor dispute, but I'd be sorely tempted to get in the face any MTA worker I ever encountered.
Anyway, yeah P2 -- count me in.