snapshot of NYC life

I'm moving tomorrow. New adventures and all that. But I had to spend my last day in NYC working. How lame is that? So technically yesterday was my last day here. I spent it wandering around Chinatown / Little Italy / Financial District in the rainy snow while waiting for Suzanne to finish working. I was almost tempted to buy a t-shirt from one of the awful tourist stands, but I just felt so dirty even considering it. I should have bought something and used it as an umbrella, but the fact that I hadn't eaten all day severely impaired my ability to think.

But when Suze was finally done, we had a long leisurely dinner and lots of tea. We did that thing where nobody was in the restaurant when we got there, but there were lots when we left. We're trendsetters like that. We did it again at Ferrara's, which is a yummy little Italian pastry shop that has been around for 100-something years (and still has "for a good time call..." graffiti in their almost immaculate bathrooms). We walked in, the only customers. Soon the place was a hotbed of activity.

This picture just about sums it up:




In the middle, you see the large white suited men in the tiny wooden chairs. One might even go so far as to call them Fat Cats. They were having a quiet, civilized discussion while they gorged themselves on desserts and liqueurs, ensuring they would never fit into the chairs. They were really supposed to be the focus of the shot, but since my camera phone does not do distance, you get the full story of everyone. It's better this way.

In the back, look closely, you have the Creepy Couple. They were on a date, a man with super-seventies sideburns and a girl that could have been his daughter. Oh, and, his fly was open. I know this only secondhand, but you'll have to trust the look of shock and disgust that crossed Suzanne's face when she discovered this and related it to me. I averted my eyes. But us spying on the couple probably didn't make their already uncomfortable first date (blind date?) any easier. Fun for us, though.

In the foreground, you see a little blur. That's a kid. An obnoxious obnoxious kid. It was fun for her to run through the joint screaming, knocking over heavy brass sign holders, and basically being oh such a joy. Such a joy in fact, that maybe Suzanne and I were heard to give statements like "your pink tights and cowboy boots don't scare me. Let's take this outside." or "bitch, give me your gelato - you don't deserve it!" Or we would have been heard making those statements had the devil child not been crying and screaming because someone tried to enforce a rule upon her ("We're going home NOW!" "Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"). And what came of all this crying and screaming? A free cookie. Free gelato. It is this free gelato that inspired my above statement, when instead of shutting up, Bratty Brat Brat Brat screamed more and ran over to the gelato counter declaring that she wanted a cone and not a cup! For her free gelato. That she got by screaming. Suzanne and I decided we would start crying and screaming too, because we also wanted to be rewarded. The waitress suggested we jump on the table.

Not pictured: the waitstaff:
Our waiter, who didn't really seem to get the jokes that Suzanne was making. The waitress who made the above suggestion. And the looks on their faces while Holy Terror ran free and unfettered.

I heart NY. I think I saw that on a t-shirt somewhere.