NY Transit Strike Day 3

BLOG ENTRY
New York Transit Strike... as it affected me, which is of course, all you should really concern yourself with:
(pictures below)

DAY 1: my path from home to work via mostly-6th-Ave:
http://tinyurl.com/apr6p
one-way distance: 2.3872508082240515 miles
temperature: 22 degrees
DAY 2: my path from home to work via mostly-Broadway:
http://tinyurl.com/bdq92
one-way distance: 2.573912064115381 miles
temperature: 32 degrees
DAY 3: my path from Esra's to work:
http://tinyurl.com/a784x
one-way distance: 2.893320380814573 miles
temperature: 32 degrees
~~~~~OK - it's a little sad that it took a transit strike to get me to walk to work but... damn it, the walk is not that bad.. in fact, I'd have to say it's really nice... or would be nice, were it not in the 20's and 30's weather-wise. When your eyes tear up uncontrollably because it's so cold and your nose threatens to secede from your face, it's probably too cold to be voluntarily walking to work. Still, the fact that you can walk for 35 minutes at a very fast pace and NOT sweat... is so awesome I dont even have words. Also awesome are books on tape, namely (from the David Sedaris box sets) Me Talk Pretty One Day that I listened to today on the way to work and of course Raider shouldering the self-absorbed and inconsiderate out of your fast-paced way.
~~~~I'll have a few pictures up shortly below, but well worthy of note were the rest stations that the Red Cross and MTA transit workers manned with coffee, smiles and encouraging words to the steady stream of Manhattan bound folk treking over the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges (and I'm sure the other bridges as well). What could have come off as a 'empty token gesture' instead felt like a genuine show of solidarity and empathy by the MTA workers braving the cold to show support for those of us forced to walk miles and miles to work. Sure, I think we were all a little high from that sense of 'city crisis' the transit strike brought, but like the blackout of '03 and like what I saw after the SF earthquake, that peculiar and almost sickeningly sweet function of human nature starts showing it's face everywhere you turn: Niceness. It almost gets to the point where you want to yell out "what the f#$@?? this is New York! why is everyone being so god damned helpful and nice?!?!? stop it, already. please. someone be rude to me. just for a second?"





















people stream over the Manhattan Bridge
























Another shot of the Manhattan Bridge with Red Cross and MTA workers handing out warm drinks and snacks.





















The Brooklyn Bridge crowd. not shown in the photo are more Red Cross and MTA workers handing out more hot drinks and snacks. I should have had some snacks. Everybody likes a good snack.






















Walking home, up Broadway.















if you look really hard, you can see the Bowling Green christmas tree. yes, right behind the Bull's balls photo posing spot.