A Typical Day in NYC…

I was standing on the corner of Broadway and 42nd Street in Manhattan waiting for a bus. There was so much traffic because of the UN being in session and the President in town that it was probably one of the worst days to be in NYC. But, here I was waiting at the corner. I had to get to 40th Street and 2nd Avenue. Because there was so much traffic, I parked my car there in the morning. Typically, I would have just walked there. I love to walk in the city. But when I went to the knee doctor yesterday, he said no walking for another four weeks. So, I waited. And I waited…. And I waited….

“Do you speak Spanish?” these tourists asked me.

I shook my head.

“French?” they asked.

“No,” I said and thought do I look European?

There was no bus in sight. The couple asked me in English how long I’d been waiting. I told them a very long time… but it was only five minutes!

As I was standing there waiting, looking for the bus, and also looking for an available cab, I get a call from my son.

“Mommy, I hurt my nose,” he said. “I was walking and I tripped and now it really hurts!”

My daughter called me moments after I hung up and told my son to ice it. “I think he got punched in the face,” my daughter said.

Now I’m really getting anxious to get to my car and get out of town! I see a rickshaw. “How much?” I ask.

“20 dollar,” he says in broken English.

“No,” I said and walked away.

“Okay, $15,” he said.

I jumped on board and there I was on the back of a rickshaw maniac. Picture this — me with my backpack, my bag and a shopping bag in a suit, my hair blowing all over the place as this guy weaved in and out of traffic! He was fast. I kept thinking that the rickshaw would flip over. I was holding on for dear life! He barely stopped for red lights! I’m sitting there in the carriage part, holding onto all my bags, trying not to fall out of the carriage when the phone rang…. I picked up. It was the kids again. “When are you coming home?”

I’m feeling like Dorothy now from the Wizard of Oz, the world is going so fast by me! And then the phone keeps ringing. This time I don’t answer. It’s too dangerous! Within minutes, I’m at my destination. Feeling dizzy, I hand the guy his $15 and before I could blink, he was on his way….