(no subject)

[shadowkat]

The flowers are outside of a building about a block down from my own, which I passed on my way home from the grocery store today.

On the way to the grocery store - it was spitting or drizzling in snippets, so I had an umbrella. And along the way, ran into a young man eating chips. He was roughly half my height and probably twenties. Attractive for the most part. Thin. Athletic. I was bigger than he was - but I'm bigger than a lot of folks, and have gotten used to it?


Man: Excuse me, I have a question?
ME: Okay?
Man: How far is it from here to Manhattan?

I look at him and then in the general direction of Manhattan. We are in Kensington, Brookly, south of Prospect Park and Greenwood Cemetery on Ocean Parkway. By train - depending on where you are headed in Manhattan - it takes at least thirty to forty-five minutes. To Prospect Park anywhere from twenty to thirty minutes, depending on traffic and pace by foot.

Me: About five to six hours? Maybe less.
Man: That long?
Me: Maybe less. Let's see - it's about twenty to thirty minutes to Prospect ParK, then about thirty minutes to Court, then about thirty minutes to Brooklyn Heights...maybe another thirty minutes to the Brooklyn Bridge, then possibly another thirty minutes into Manhattan...depending on pace?
Man: that's not that long. My phone is dead, I have no idea where I am.
ME: Below Prospect Park keep going and hang a right when you see a bridge and cross it then keep going north then it swings around and you hit the park.
HE looks in the general direction of the Park.
Me: can you use a subway pass -
Man: Phone is dead. Can't do anything.
Me: Well keep walking and ask questions along the way, and hopefully it will work out. Other than that, I can't help you. I don't have a map on me.

It occurred to me on the way to the grocery store, after we parted company, that he most likely expected me to pull out my phone, hunt the mileage and directions - and he'd ask for it to see - and probably swipe it, and take off. Or wanted money.

Except that I don't think like that? I don't use my phone to orient myself at all. And often will carry a map. I'm not phone dependent, never have been. I was raised in the 1970s and 80s and didn't get a smart phone until I was 45 years old. I've had one for less than fifteen years. So I basically spent 45 years of my life doing quite well without the thing. I keep forgetting it. Don't get me wrong it has its uses? But I don't trust or rely on it - I like to print off boarding passes and tickets, and I don't use it for transportation or paying for things.

Also, I've lived in NYC too long. I don't trust people. And what he did was unbelievably stupid. He had nothing on him but his dead phone? (which he didn't show me and I didn't see). His hands were holding chips. Didn't know where he was? And was eating chips, in clean and good clothing, and looked well put together? Also attractive? Hmm.

At any rate - I hope he got home safely. I figure he probably did. He didn't look that bad off and it's a pleasant evening for a long walk.


Tomorrow - cancer screening - breasts, and maybe a stop by the linen store on the way home. Wanted to maybe do brunch with Wales, but Wales wants to sleep in and it didn't pan out and I got annoyed.

People have been annoying me lately for some reason or other. I keep wanting to smack them upside the head, which I can't do of course. Also they don't really deserve it. People sometimes are just annoying. I can be annoying. I honestly think it's just the nature of the beast or humanity. We can be an annoying species. How the Earth tolerates us, I don't know.

OR.. I think it's just a combination of not getting enough solid sleep, blood sugar issues, menopause, weather, and ordinary frustrations. Let's face it - life is difficult for everybody.

Comments

[kazzy_cee]

I'd be suspicious about the man, too. Also - how did he buy the chips (and why didn't he ask in the grocery store where to go?).

You can't get there from here.

[cactuswatcher]

People used to ask me for directions all the time even when I was visiting in Europe. A local would ask me for directions in their language, and look disgusted when they realized I was from the other side of the world. Americans would stop me in Europe and thinking I was a local, would ask me in timid, halting English. I could help them most of the time.

Usually I had some good idea of how to get the place, and gave good directions. Once in a while at college, I'd think silently, boy, if I wanted to get *there* I wouldn't start from *here.* I'd know how to get there, but also know the person asking would never remember the twists and turns through campus.

Long ago, I had a black woman drive up to me when I was at my own, semi-rural, St. Louis County mail box. She asked me how to get to a street in the city, miles away. With no direct path, (no cell phones in those days) and honestly no idea how to get there myself, all I could do was point her toward the city and tell her to ask again when she'd driven a few miles to the closest major road. I was a little afraid she had dementia. But there was nothing else I could do. Don't no how she got way off where I lived. Could just hope she made it where she was going.

[shadowkat]

Exactly. They were clearly bought in a store. And he didn't show me his phone. Way too many red flags.

[yourlibrarian]

Beautiful flowers! And yes, I'd be suspicious about the stop as well.

Re: You can't get there from here.

[shadowkat]

I identify - I get asked directions everywhere I go as well. I must have one of those faces? I don't know.

Today someone asked me where Carrol Street was - when I was about to enter the subway with groceries.
I just pointed in the general direction.

And I've experienced the situation you've had many times. It's very odd.

[shadowkat]

Thank you.