11 Nov 06

Time:

?

Money:

$317, a terrifically inexpensive round-trip ticket home for Thanksgiving, JetBlue.
$1, can of Diet Pepsi, hot dog cart at Union Square.
$76, long-sleeved shirts that I desperately needed, midtown Old Navy.
$12, bison burger, Viand Coffee Shop.
$25, margaritas and empanadas, Mustang.
$3, pineapple juice, Gristede's.

More interesting things:

Hit the MTA website in order to make sure that I really would be able to get out to JFK on T-day, and found that a) it seems entirely possible, b) the LIRR "Getaways" button has a picture of mysteriously red-cheeked soldier girls that would confuse you if you have not been as lucky as I in terms of seeing the Rockettes' Christmas show, and c) the subway system has 3,083 turnstiles at 468 stations, to which all I can say is, "dang."

Asked, without very high expectations, whether the crew hanging around in the cardio room at the gym would change one of the TVs to CBS, and was very happy that after I explained what I wanted to watch - the Florida game, of course - they agreed.

Battled our way back towards the subway station after finishing up at Old Navy, and walked past a guy who was either a very devoted and extremely well-funded Scottish Regiment wanna-be or, in fact, a real live member of one of them. He wore a Black Watch kilt, a black (or very dark blue) dinner jacket with some kind of shiny buttons, and a row of dress medals. I can't fathom the specifics of what he might have been doing all spruced up in such a way, but that he could find a good reason for it somewhere in this particular city doesn't surprise me at all.

Rode the... R, I think it was, back uptown with a conductor who was either exasperated and bored or having a lot of fun acting like he was; it was a caricature of the classic subway voice from TV (or whatever) except that you could understand what he was saying, making it that much more amusing. A guy standing near us said, "He's had it, too!" after those on the platform got a singsong exhortation to let everyone off the train followed shortly thereafter by an equally goofy "stand clear of the closing doors." Somewhere - I think it was a Bill Bryson book - I read about the residents of one city or another "putting on a good show" so the "visitors from the sticks" can go home with good stories, and I wonder if this conductor realized he was doing the same thing.