Village People

Day 5.

I want to say “this was another fantastic day” because it was but I feel like this is rubbing it in when some of the group were losing their stomach contents.

Meh. It was another fantastic day. And I haven’t learnt how to be sympathetic to sick people.

We had a breakfast appointment to make at nine which meant for an early and rushed start to the day. Daisy was enthroned on her pile of curtain material and not coming out with us; she had had a bad night of illness.

A little guilty about leaving her but wishing to see Rian and Paul before they left for the airport, we hurried to the subway. Just outside the 125th Street subway, Q threw up into a bin. Feeling useless as usual, I hung back and let other people do the sympathy thing. I think I did the “in awe” thing (or if I didn’t, I am now) when Q said that we should just continue to the diner. She bought some water from a store. It was given to her in a brown paper bag as if it was alcohol- “I guess they are not used to people buying water and didn’t quite know what to do about it,” she speculated.

We hurried to the Manhattan Diner a little late and one man down but there are always casualties in breakfast. I spotted Rian in the window of the diner. She met us at the entrance and apologised that they had already got a table and ordered. Given that we were there to talk to non-Harlemites it seemed daft to get a table for ourselves but what else were we to do? The waitress wouldn’t let the others move. So the six of us grabbed a booth and in varying degrees of health, ordered our breakfast. As we waited for the food to arrive, I weaved through the diner to the other table.

It was nice to talk to Rian, Paul, Lars and Dana even if it was only for a couple of minutes. I never did find the chance for quality conversation with them so I prized these few moments. It turned out that Lars discovered he was allergic to something he ate (so obviously it wasn’t just an excuse not to be involved in karaoke the night before). Dana showed a book she had put together of Paris Hobbmeet photographs. It looked amazing and for the first time I was introduced to Dana’s talent. I assumed that she did that professionally as it had that quality about it but on asking her I learnt that she was more IT-orientated (someone could possibly remind me of her occupation…).

I returned to the Harlem table for my breakfast. My bacon was more like ham. My French Toast not great compared to what I get in Japan, oddly enough. My tea was Lipton (‘nuff said). Em was back and forth to the toilet (victim number three). By this point I think there was speculation that biped doling out vitamin c overdoses to the antipodeans was the problem. I am not sure why she was doing this in the first place or why they accepted the pills from the crazy German lady.

After we settled the bill, Amy and I left. Just as we were leaving, sus declared that she wasn’t feeling too good and yet still wanted to roam the city by herself. I expected that I’d soon be getting lots of phone-calls from hospitals telling me that Hobblings were dying on the streets. Even so, Amy and I managed to forget their problems and have a great time. I find myself struggling to remember the details without the aid of a guidebook or photographs but I will give it a go.

We followed a couple of routes from her guidebook. We started in Greenwich Village, an area that I hadn’t visited before and was recommended by Heather. I forced Amy to do the route backwards which made her job of guide tricky but she did well, pointing out famous streets from films and album and showing me the slightly stranger buildings of the area. One I think was given a non-integer house number. I was thrown by how English looking the area was. The streets were quiet, the houses quite modest. The fire escapes were uniquely New York but on the whole it felt very much like London. There were some cute little shops in this area too (including “Amy’s Bakery”) and Amy and I had fun in one shop which was filled with buckets of herbs and spices. I bought some camomile flowers and caused a stir when my purchase (calculated on weight) came to the same amount as the previous person.

Our route took us to Washington Square Park. It was closed off with “Do Not Cross” tape, only allowing us to go around the main square to the arch on one side of it. There were police cars and many uniformed individuals but it soon became obvious that they weren’t the police but actors. Something was being filmed there. Amy and I lurked near someone who looked involved with the operation and overheard him talk to a couple of people mentioning “Danny Boyle” and “28 Days Later”. Maybe these are hints about what they were doing but I couldn’t work it out.

We backtracked to a little tea shop we saw en route. It was a small but bright place, not busy but not quite empty. I chose a Ceylon and Amy went for Christmas Spice, an odd blend to offer in September. We sat and chatted over our brews, planning the route for the afternoon and generally enjoying ourselves. We packed up and finished the Greenwich Village tour, ending where we started and hopping on the subway to go south.

We emerged from the station and started another guided tour out of the book at Battery Park. There were some of those people pretending to be statues there (all of them male statues of liberty) which made us detour to avoid them. Is there a single person on the planet that likes them? We passed many stalls selling glossy photos of New York. As always, I was seriously tempted but I resisted the urge to buy. I love New York and I just could not choose one single photo to sum it up for me. There were also some guys who looked like they were going to put on some break dancing performance or something but all they actually did was shout “we’re gonna start” over and over without actually starting anything. Perhaps they were waiting for a crowd but of course we just edged away in fear. The park tour ended at a sculpture that had once been in the World Trade Center and still bore scars. There was also an “eternal” flame and many dead roses.

On our walk we passed the American Indian museum, a great big bull, a man selling half price comics (I bought Kraven’s Last Hunt and The Watchmen) and a famous pub where patriots frequented. I was thrown at the way the tourist information board talked about a famous patriot acting against the king. It feels like being through the looking-glass. There was also the first cobbled street in New York and the surrounding buildings. Many were restaurants and cafes that sprawled out into the street, Italian-style. Again I was thrown and pleased by how European New York was in parts (and borrowing the best from Europe, not the worst).

We eventually came to Wall Street with its huge and impressive buildings. The Stock Exchange boasted the second largest flag I have ever seen on its front. The street was lined on each side with the most spectacular monuments to power and yet, right at the end and dominating the street was a church.

The church was not that impressive compared to cathedrals all around the world but its location was certainly unique. Inside it had pews that were divided up and slightly too wide. I was reminded of similarly old churches in Boston which had boxes rather than pews. Families would rent a box and burn a fire within it during the service to keep warm. I could not see any signs of a fireplace in the widened pews of this church, but possibly it was based on the same system of families renting. Outside the church, the “911” theme was continued with a cast of some tree roots from the site.

We walked back to where we started Accomplice all those days ago. We used the toilets there but soon realised that we couldn’t do anything more if we were to get back to the apartment by 6 (the meeting up time). We traced back our steps and worked our way to Chinatown (on the way passing a public park of 0.05 acres) where we attempted to buy some unusual fruits and vegetables. What had been so plentiful a few days ago, was suddenly hard to come by. By this point I was tired from a day of walking and particularly grumpy, forcing Amy to do the shopping while I sulked (she is such a sport for putting up with me when I am in a mood). Not having much success in Chinatown, we hopped on the subway and went to Union Square.

Where there is a Forbidden Planet. For this was the day that Ultimate Spider-man number 100 was released. I had already had a teasing text from Em boasting that she had it and now I was to have my own copy. There was also a Whole Foods here so I lurked at the entrance flicking through Kraven’s Last Hunt while Amy shopped (again, she put up with a lot at this point). We then took the train up the east side and took an unusual route to the apartment, making it there by 6.

Everyone bar biped (who decided to spend the night with the adults, Dana and Lars) was already at the apartment. Daisy had not left, choosing instead to watch the entire series of Wonderfalls (a great choice). While everyone gathered to watch that, Amy went off to relax by herself and I ground my teeth over when to start making dinner. In the end, I decided to get started and also get stressy with other people until they helped. Sus and Em lent some hands but it was still mainly up to Amy to do the cooking as I chopped and then laid the table (noisily). Ultimately though, dinner was served. And being able to rest and relax with food in me improved my mood no end. I spent the evening engrossed in my Ultimate Spidey comic and then a selection of those bought by Em including a fantastic Amazing Spider-man (or at least, long-awaited).