An Accident Waiting to Happen

As I left the gym this morning at around 7:40, I noticed a white LB police radio car stopped at the foot of the left-hand turning lane on eastbound Park Avenue, between Edwards and Riverside Blvds. (where you make the turn for Waldbaums). The cop was seated at the wheel, chatting with two women (girls?) through his drivers' side window.  Then a black SUV police car pulled up alongside in the left traffic lane and put on his rotary lights - presumably to divert traffic.

I took all this in as I got into my car and drove home. Around the corner, I realized I had left my glasses at the gym, so I doubled back, parking in the center mall on Park Ave.  The two police cars and the two women were still there, doing what for all the world appeared to be socializing (when's the last time you leaned into a radio car window to chat it up during an official police action?).

Returning to my car, I drove away, made a left and stopped at the southbound light on Edwards, where I observed rush hour traffic mounting. I noticed that the black police SUV was not marked on the rear and that cars heading east did not realize that it was a police vehicle (even though the roof lights were on and turning, in broad daylight it was not easily noticeable from a distance). This was obvious from all the honking, lane switching and confusion as traffic came up unexpectedly on the stopped SUV in the left lane, and before my light turned green, I heard the inevitable crash.

I didn't stick around to see what happened, and hopefully my ears were playing tricks on me. But it left me with this question: what in the world were two police officers in two separate police vehicles doing socializing with two pedestrians in the middle of a busy street? At rush hour no less.

It was certainly an accident waiting to happen, and unfortunately, they didn't have to wait too long before it did (I think).

The Best Kind of Surprise

There we were Friday night, enjoying the hospitality and company of our dear friends Erika and Phil Cabasino, and who should walk through the door but Jake! Phil Jr. had just picked him up from JFK and whisked him home just in time to surprise us for dinner. What a fabulous set up. Erika managed to keep a straight face the whole time, even while I recounted my conversation the previous night with Luke, when my antennae were raised by my suspicions that something was up. Was Jake getting a new tattoo? Shaving his head? Piercing his face? Eloping? Little did Darryl and I expect my shaggy, unshaven, thinner college freshman to materialize in the flesh. Voila!

Of course eating became the theme of the weekend, and our dinner at Mateo's ended up costing as much as Jake's plane ticket home (no joke). But it was worth it to have him home -- even though the waiter gave me a regular double espresso instead of a decaf, which kept me up all night.

Then today, I had a wonderful day in the city with my other closest friend, Phyllis. It was a real girls' day out on a beautiful fall Sunday.We walked from Penn Station up Ninth Avenue, had lunch in a terrific little restaurant open to the street, and then saw Relatively Speaking on Broadway - a collection of one-act plays by Ethan Coen, Elaine May and Woody Allen. What a hoot! Then a stroll back down Ninth Avenue, a cocktail at a pretty little bar along the way, and back onto the train.

What a  great weekend.