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I Live In Trafalgar Square

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Such a beautiful day again. And once again I’ve been out and about. I was in midtown Manhattan, had a few things I needed to do and when headed in the direction of where I needed to go, I run into former cigar shack employee and current customer, Jerrode. Jerrode is truly a nice guy, very sweet and upbeat and quite outgoing. He works in the vicinity of the cigar shack and was headed back since his lunch hour was ending. We strolled about for a while, meaning I walked him to 56th street before heading back to where I wanted to go.

I had a feeling I would run into someone I knew and I was glad it was him. I don’t like backtracking when I don’t have to so I walked up one avenue and stopped at the salad bar where I used to have lunch, and had some lunch. The customary phone call to Annemarie did not proceed as planned so I left a message on the machine. I got what I needed to get and soon was headed back to the bus terminal. It was the type of day where the past popped up, not just with Jerrode, but also seeing someone’s Facebook page and seeing that someone I had written off was back online.

Not that I am about to refriend this guy. That is not going to happen. That thing is that I have two Facebook accounts. One I started years ago when it was the social network for the Ivy League schools courtesy of a friend that was going to Columbia University. I logged in with an apostrophe and soon forgot about it, until a few months ago when I was checking an old email account that still exists but is rarely used. So now I have two Facebook accounts, one with an apostrophe and the other without. And that is how I discovered that this guy is back online.

He’s blocked me and I’ve blocked him on one account but through looking at the page of someone that we’re both friends with that’s how I saw what he’s up to. And having done that I am glad I’ve moved on. Life is so much better without that wanker mucking things up. So basically there are two people from the past that I came across today. One is sweet as pie and the other is someone I would cross the street to avoid.

Now I am home, Bill just left a little while ago, driving to Atlantic City once again, so I won’t be seeing him until tomorrow morning. We’ll more than likely talk on the phone before he turns in for the night. No plans for the evening except for maybe a stroll around Hoboken later. It’s just too nice out to stay indoors. Life is out there in every sense of the phrase. Not much else to do, not much else to write. Just a beautiful lazy night ahead. Got to enjoy them while you can, you dig?

Alice!



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New Order – Fine Time

I Like America

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For some reason I find myself thinking of something that happened about 27 years ago, it could have been around this time of year, give or take a few months. I was living in my first apartment in Hoboken with my dear friend Jet Watley. Jet was working at Tower Records in the Village at the time and he always used to get free things all the time. Usually records, promo items, invitations to listening parties and tons of posters and all that. One particular time he got tickets to see Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus at Madison Square Garden.

I had never been to the circus so it was somewhat exciting to me. I asked my friends Mike and Arrot if they wanted to go and they seemed into it. I had four tickets and Arrot explained that her sister April was coming in that night by train from Vermont and arriving at Penn Station, located right below Madison Square Garden. So it seemed to be working out perfectly. Mike, Arrot and I took the Path train into the city and walked one block west to Madison Square Garden where we met up with Arrot’s sister April.

Both Arrot and April were attractive young women and Arrot explained that before we go back to Hoboken we would be going to see the circus directly above us. Then April introduced us to two men she met on the train from Vermont. Klaus and Viktor were their names and they were in New York City for the first time. They had nowhere to go, and the only person they knew was April. I did not have any extra tickets for Klaus and Viktor so we didn’t know exactly what to do.

Since they were tourists, the three of them, why not do something that tourists do? So we walked to the pavilion at Madison Square Garden and found some kids who were looking to buy tickets for the evening’s performance. They asked how much we wanted for the tickets and I told them they were free, they could have them. They didn’t expect that and their faces showed an unbridled happiness that one doesn’t see too often, either then or now.

We walked over to the Empire State Building and wound up spending time on top of the world, looking at Manhattan at our feet. It was a beautiful sight and a beautiful night. But then again there are only so many things and angles that you can see at the top of the Empire State Building so we decided to head back to Hoboken. We figured out that April, Klaus and Viktor would stay with Mike and Arrot who lived around the block from the Elysian Café.

We dropped off their gear and made our way to the pub where it was crowded with quite a few friendly faces. We all talked to our friends and sat and drank and April being the new girl in town found herself on a barstool, surrounded by a few guys who wanted to know who she was and perhaps know her a little better than that. Arrot was with Mike and wasn’t paying much attention to what her sister was doing and I spent some time and energy wondering if Klaus and Viktor were gay or just European. All of a sudden Arrot came up to me as I sat and talked with Mike and told me she couldn’t believe it. There was April perched on a barstool, surrounded by men and having a few drinks. She had a problem with that since April was only 14 years old.

She wasn’t looking or acting 14 years old, she looked like a twenty something Audrey Hepburn. We decided to go back to Mike and Arrot’s apartment where we all got a little jazzy with something that Klaus or Viktor had with them. We lay on the floor feeling quite nice, Viktor’s head in my lap and still I couldn’t tell if it was the Gay or European conundrum. It turned out he was European. Still I was infatuated.

Infatuated enough to accompany Klaus and Viktor to Newark Airport the next day on a shuttle bus that I rode round trip. I probably looked disheartened when Viktor mentioned seeing his girlfriend when they got back to Germany. I came back to Hoboken, not heartbroken, just had a nice adventure with a pair of nice guys and a precocious 14 year old girl. I never saw Klaus or Viktor again and I don’t think I ever saw April again, come to think of it.

Just a little something that popped into my head, triggered when I saw a Newark Airport shuttle bus this afternoon.





07 Born in Time [#] 1
Happy birthday Bob Dylan.