Hello all,
This entry is from an email I received from my coworker Shauna who just moved to the city in July. It reminded me so much of my early experiences in the city that I had to add it. And Shauna is just such a character, I thought maybe some of you would enjoy it. And of course, it involves the New York suwbays system as all crazy new york stories should. Here it is:
...I've started studying for the GREs and i'm having an absolute blast. read: the GREs make me want to throw myself on the subway tracks. which apparently people in the city like to do on a regular basis because the only train that takes me to my job has been shut down approximately 3 times in the last 2 weeks due to things like, "a robber jumped into the train tracks," "someone jumped in front of the train," etc. Really, if people want to commit suicide, can't they pick another goddamn train line to do it on?? I need to go to work.
So one of these times the train stopped at 149th street (i need to get to 195th ish) so obvoiusly there's no way in hell i'm walking. and i'm poor so i'm not taking a cab. and of course nothing i need merges at 149th street. so since everyone and their mom was switching to the bus i didn't want to take it. not to mention i figured i wouldn't get as lost on foot as i could get on the bus. so i asked the police officer where the next closest subway station was. he told me and i thought i was following his directions perfectly (i still maintain that i was, and that 149th street is NOT only 5 blocks away from 161st street), but somehow i ended up on some back roads with no one really around over by yankee stadium, which let me tell you, is absolutely not the nicest neighborhood i've ever been in. oh, and i was wearing my neon orange north face jacket. needless to say, i wasn't exactly blending in.
So i asked this parking attendant where the subway was when i decided i was lost again, and naturally he didn't speak english (no one in the bronx speaks english) so he just repeated what i said. (i would've tried spanish but i couldn't tell if he spoke that either because he looked like a frog and i couldn't figure out a clear ethnicity). finally he understood and pointed in the direction, but then motioned for me to get in the back seat, that he'd take me there. so i said no of course, that i was fine walking, and we went back and forth for a few minutes, and then i said thanks and started walking.
A couple minutes later as i'm praying that God would turn my bright orange jacket into a nice foggy gray to blend in with the slums i was walking next to, i hear this honking. I ignore it b/c it's usually some d-bag who thinks that's a good way to pick up girls, but it continues so i finally turn and it's the same parking attendant dude trying to motion for me to take a left at the next intersection. I wave thank you and he drives off, thank the lord. So i get up to the corner where i'm supposed to take a left, but i see the stairway leading down to the subway station on my right. So i ask one of the construction workers there if i can get to the subway going left or do i need to take that one on the right? He looked at me kinda funny and was like, no you can go that way (pointing left). I say thanks and start walking and then look up and realize why he gave me that look.
About 20 feet ahead and above me is blatantly the subway rail with monstrous staircases leading up to it, like impossible to miss if i was paying any attention at all. i like to think that had someone attacked me that morning, my stupidity might have deterred them from following through. So that was a little more long-winded than i had expected, but really, are any of you surprised that my story was long-winded? I'm not.
No comments:
Post a Comment