Today is Tuesday, we arrived Saturday about noon. Last night, Jim ventured out for his first trip to a bodega. He returned stating "I hate New York. But I love New York."
It took him four days. Hmmm
In twenty years of teaching, I've always been a rule follower. At Littleton, we had "Blackout" days, days we were not allowed to take off. Even though we are adults. Even though we have four personal days for any reason that no one is supposed to question. Even though most of us have over 12 sick days we'll never use. Regardless, we could not be out the Friday or Monday around any break. The week of finals, fall or spring. I scheduled Dublin two weeks before spring break just to avoid the hassle, and still: I was hassled.
A couple of years ago, Jim started making noise about New York at Christmas. Much as I balked at Moab at Thanksgiving, I balked more at New York at Christmas. It's a madhouse. The only time I can travel is over the break, and I dug in my heels and said I will absolutely not travel those two weeks. I would consider coming out the week between Christmas and New Year, but that was all. Nope. Jim wasn't having any. He's always been a guy for whom Christmas is over on the 25th. No Christmas movies after that. Nothing. Over. So. Not An Option to come out then.
Covid year we had actually started looking at dates. I was no longer at Littleton, and Hinkley didn't seem nearly as wound up about babysitting teachers. So we decided we could make it work the week before finals the next year. But of course, Dec of 2021 was still rough so we put it off. Again.
We're here now. I am shocked at how many shows Jim wanted to book, I assumed we'd be doing other stuff. But he signed us up for four shows. Which turns out to be a good thing, as it's expensive to eat here. And drink. We're "sleeping in " this morning, my feet are killing me. We've two more days and two more shows. I swear I'm going to make us leave three hours early for the airport, maybe four. Traffic is insane and the airport is gonna be slammed. Probably not with people leaving, but who knows.
Imma break this up, post bit by bit. Our topics will include garbage, bellhops, hotels, shows we saw and a smattering of Why IS Everything Small And Crowded.
The Bellhop
I got stuck behind a bell hop in the ridiculously narrow entry way. He and his lovely eastern block accent were chatting with the young women-maybe in their late 20's or early 30's- whose luggage he was moving. I over heard the following.
"Where are you from?" He asked nicely
"Manchester."
'Oh, yes! England. You're funny. Benny Hill."
Blink. Blink.
"He is funny. Do you like Benny Hill?" He repeated himself, being polite because maybe they didn't hear him over the luggage mover.
Blink, Smile.
"Really? He is British. He is very funny. You would like him." His smile never waivered.
Me: Blink. Blink.
The man knew what he was talking about, and it's impressive that he knows Benny Hill. During our trip we discovered many Ukrainian folks working as bellhops and pedi cab drivers. We concluded they must have four TV channels that they grew up with, and one played old BBC comedies, and the other ran Home Alone 2 Lost in New York on a loop every holiday. We heard those references more than once. And it ends a conversation, once you find out they are Ukrainian, you can't really keep asking stupid questions about why they moved to New York..."Home Alone 2: Lost In New York is a very popular movie in my country. I've watched it a lot" is a show stopper. There's no where to go after that.
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