Will You Marry Me?
by Doug Dosdall in North America , USA , New York
New York has its moments when it's almost magical. Given it's constraints, the city should really be dysfunctional all the time but somehow it often works and more, often surprising me.I went for a walk through the village late Wednesday night and was pleasantly surprised to find that it had warmed up. It wasn't really warm per se, it is late October, but that didn't stop people from being out, sitting at sidewalk cafes or just strolling. There were a lot of people standing on street corners staring straight up which was a little odd until I realized that there was a lunar eclipse in progress. It's nice to see that normally unflappable New Yorkers aren't so jaded that they can't appreciate a natural phenomenon. They won't spare a glance for someone yelling poetry to themselves on the street but this still held some interest.
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It was also what would turn out to be the final game of the World Series. Now, the Yankees were supposed to have won (they're always supposed to win) but they weren't in it. And so that freed the city for a less partisan more comradely view of the game. For some reason, the West village was a hotbed of Boston Red Sox fans. When the game ended they spilled out into the streets from everywhere, cheering wildly, blocking 7th Ave at Christopher. Maybe the West Village was the perfect place to go to root for the perpetual underdog. It was the original place where the underdogs went. Although they seemed mostly to be college students, perhaps from nearby NYU. But doesn't Boston have more than enough of its own universities? Do they send their sons and daughters to New York for an education?
The next day was even warmer and the sun was out. I climbed up to the top level
of Belvedere Castle in Central Park, to take in the view. Up top, a cute guy
wearing a tie smiled at me. He had kind of a nervous but very friendly excited
energy that was captivating. I soon found out that no, he wasn't cruising me
(damn!), he was waiting to surprise his girlfriend with a marriage proposal. He
had been there an hour but she was expected shortly and so he enlisted me to
take photos with his camera when she showed up. That's the happy couple there.
She said yes, if you're curious.
Sometimes it takes adversity to bring New Yorkers together. Last night I found myself waiting on a subway platform in Brooklyn at midnight with two elves (it was Oct 29th), various humans and a very large rat. And no train for almost 40 minutes. Usually the rats have the decorum to stay down on the tracks but this one was right on the platform scurrying back and forth on the garbage can. We also had to deal with a strong smell of urine. When the train finally came we were treated to a very odd looking busker doing an uncanny imitation of Tracy Chapman accompanied by his backpack amplified guitar. I gave him a buck. He was really good despite being neither female nor black.
