So I know I usually write about travel, food, photography, etc.
But this time I'm going to touch on a 'culture' of sorts, in my own city.
It's 2:54 and this is a true story, which just occurred.
Crazy shit that happens after 2am:
2:01am - Downtown 4 subway. NYC. A seemingly intoxicated “grown-ass man” as he was later referred to, is thrown onto the floor from his seat as the train takes the sharp curve approaching Astor Place station, while his wife/girlfriend and friend laugh hysterically at his misfortune. The rest of the car (myself & 4 others) are rather amused.
2:07am - Gentleman to my left, a family man type who appears to have had quite a rough week, falls asleep and as the train comes to a halt at one of the next stops, tips over onto the bench until his torso and then head hit the seat & he jolts upright (yet, still with eyes closed). His smartphone goes crashing to the floor despite his tight grip on the earbuds in his hand. He doesn’t bend over to pick up his phone, but curiously digs into his pocket to reach for it. Out comes his empty hand and accidentally a wad of cash that is evenly distributed on the subway floor around his feet. He reaches down, grabs the phone, leaves the cash, and falls back to sleep. The good samaritan across the way picks up all the cash & stuffs it back into the guys pocket. Surprised? As was I.
2:11am - A strung-out, homeless, crazy, vagabond, type older man wearing dark Wayfarers and a christmas ornament dangling from the right arm of said shades, reeking like an ashtray, saunters into the train car. He sits to my left and begins talking. To himself. He mumbles mostly - I heard something about the promised land and a desert. But don’t get me wrong, this is no religious fanatic mumbling scripture - he’s definitely insane. Just before his 1-stop trip on the subway expires he exclaims to myself & the girl across from me that he has found the jewel of the Nile! He removes his hands from his dirty Jersey sweatshirt pockets and opens them - in his right, an obsidian rock, attractive, but certainly no jewel; in his left, a disco ball.
Only in NY.
