Si Ves Algo, Di Algo
I didn't catch the naked protesters for ACT-UP nor did I catch the guys rappelling down the side of the Plaza.
But after having Tasti D Lite for dinner last night, a couple of friends and I meandered down to Union Square, not knowing that people had gathered. Although, quite frankly we should have known something by the helicopter shining its search light directly onto the square. Regardless we went in that direction stood about, people watching. There were the regular group of boys with their BMX bikes, there was a drum circle, there was a mass of people holding a "Free Palestine" sign. There were street medics from Seattle, there were guild legal observers in green hats, there were NYCLU observers in blue hats, there were people with oak tag and there were cops, lots and lots of cops, uniformed and detectives in suits. There was one detective eating a Mr. Softee chocolate double cone while talking to two kids. There was one cop who was so thrilled with the notion that he was the one chosen to hold the megaphone so much that he kept saying "Test 1, 2" into it. There were news vans on top of news vans. Ambulances with sirens on kept whizzing by, cop cars with sirens on kept whizzing by. There were a bunch of kids skateboarding on Union Square West which had been closed down and was blocked off by an ambulance and a fire truck. Tour busses kept driving by and tourists kept snapping pictures of the whole scene. It was chaos and total calm at the same time, in the way that only New York could be. We just stood there and watched. And watched until the cops told us to move back because...
there was a suspicious package tied to a bench.
so we moved back. The cops taped off like a 30 foot radius around the package/bench combo. Everything else continued as before, except no one was inside the roped off area, except for some poor guy who was sleeping in the bushes, who was escorted out of the area by some cops.
We stayed. Everyone stayed. About 10 minutes later the area they had roped off became larger. They closed the entrance to the train station that was right there. We moved back a little further. We stayed. Everyone stayed. The cop finished his ice cream cone. Another one walked past us and winked at my friend. A New York 1 reporter in quite possibly the ugliest green blazer I had ever seen (she might have just won the Masters), interviewed some short girl about the earlier protest. A man starts yelling to a group of policemen about how their union should not be fighting for a raise but fighting to overthrow the government. He was stumbling a little bit. Megaphone cop informed him and the rest of us that if he didn't stop yelling he would be arrested. He didn't stop yelling. He was arrested. There were video cameras everywhere all of a sudden. The legal observers were feverishly observing. The "bomb squad" came. And by bomb squad, I mean a NYPD truck pulled up. A guy in a white polo came out, used some pliers to cut the bag from the bench. He tapped it a couple of times and then unzipped the bag. There was a note inside. Sadly, I do not know what the note said, but I think it was requesting John McLean to go to home plate at Yankee Stadium.
The bag was removed. We got bored and my friend had to pee so we left.
While on the ride back home as we're travelling on the bridge our conductor gets on the loudspeaker and says "Good evening we are now cruising at an altitude of 125 feet at a speed of approximately 25 miles per hour. If you look to your left below the bridge you will see South Street Seaport... Our destination temperature is 71 degrees farenheit and 22 degrees celsius. It is 1 after 10. I hope you have enjoyed your journey with us." And, because of this conductor on the N train with his soothing Pilot's voice, I did enjoy my ride home.
It was just another night in the eNwhYCee.
