New
Yorkers learned yesterday early afternoon that the Transit Workers
were going to resume work and the city
should begin to be moving along with less angst and consternation
by the time you read these words. It is a great relief to millions
of us especially those of us who depend totally on public transportation
to get back and forth to our jobs. New York runs so smoothly, vehicular
gridlock and all, thanks to our public transit system and the people
who run it, that we most often take it for granted.
The cabs were very good in picking up the slack although their
price was not for everyone. Some cabbies were gouging and others
were bending over backwards to help. As it always is in life, it
depended entirely upon the personality of the cabbie. Late Wednesday
night, early Wednesday morning I returned home from Bungalow 8
by cab. Bungalow 8 is way down on the West Side. My cabbie
took the West Side Highway and crossed Manhattan west to east on
79th Street and I was home in less than fifteen minutes. A long
cab trip, he charged me the regular unmetered ten bucks. I gave
him twenty and actually it would have cost me more than that had
it been a metered ride. But it was late; he’d had a long
day and just wanted to be a good guy.
Click
to order
Yesterday morning
I was picked up by a cab who told me it would be “two zones” and therefore $15 to go thirty blocks
to 57th and Fifth. Two blocks later he stopped and picked up another
customer who was going to 53rd and First, deciding he’d take
her to her destination first. So I thought, the hell with it and
got out, hailing another cab. (I noticed the lady who was going
to join me in the first cab also got out at the first light, so
he ended up with zero). My second cabbie charged me the standard
ten bucks. I gave him the fifteen, feeling in the holiday spirit.
Coming back from lunch late this afternoon, I got a cab in front
of Bloomingdale’s who already had one passenger and who a
few feet later picked up a third. Ten bucks each: he did very well
taking us all to the same general destination. Although, as you
can imagine, ten here, fifteen bucks there, cab rides soon became
prohibitively expensive. So now we’ll go back to the meter
and the buses and the subways which are still, at two bucks a ticket,
the best buy in New York.
On this last day before Christmas Eve, we are running
our traditional page of some of the annual holiday greetings that
we’ve received
from friends and readers. As is now the fashion, Holiday cards
feature families, little ones and our four-footed loved ones and
they all give the heart and soul some much needed warmth of glad
tidings and affection. Take a good look at the loveliness and innocence
amongst the children and the animals and remind yourself that that
is also what life has to offer, to give and to restore.
JH and I wish you a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah and Blessings
of Peace, Love and Happiness for all in the New Year.
