Crash

I nearly made it. Nearly made it to the end of the trip without crashing — mentally or physically — but today it happened.

Legs made of concrete, eyes that took in nothing and mood swings that would have me mixing it with the best of them in New York — that’s about the sum of my day. D eventually gave up trying to keep me moving and engaged and we headed back to the room early. Since then I’ve gone shopping for an extra piece of luggage, washed a few sundry items, repacked the souvenirs that were going to cost an exorbitant amount to send home by US Post into the new luggage, bitten D’s head off on more occasions than either he or I can count and am only now sitting down and “resting”.

Of all the places the crash could have happened, New York is possibly the worst. And if it was the worst place for the crash to happen it’s probably the place I most expected it to happen. It was our first day here when I realised that we weren’t going to have enough time to do even half of what we wanted. So many museums, so many art galleries, so many shops and sights to see, so many streets and people, so many, so much, so big, loud, bustling, smelly, entertaining, interesting. So, so, so wonderful. So, so unexpected. I was expecting rudeness and haven’t encountered it. I was worried that I’d feel hemmed in and crowded but apart from a few moments of anxiety (of the take me home, NOW!!! variety) on our first evening here, I’ve been fine. The trick, I discovered, is to simply go with the flow and see where it takes you.

Except I forgot that trick today. And now I’m feeling tired and wrung out (much like the sundry items will be once I can be bothered to look after them). I suspect D is too because he’s snoring in bed while I type this. I’ll wake him soon and we’ll find somewhere to have dinner and hopefully the rest of the day will pass more peacefully and happily than what has gone.

There was one bright spot although I suspect I may have been appalled had I been in any other mood today (possibly because I was glad I wasn’t the one receiving the treatment). We had lunch at the Carnegie Deli today and found ourselves seated, elbow to elbow, with an older couple from Sydney, typically Australian and hopelessly confused. D had eaten there before and knew exactly what he wanted (and by extension what we wanted because I couldn’t make up my mind and was happy to go with that aforementioned flow). The older couple, well, they couldn’t decide on anything. The waiter, who was trying to turn over tables because there was a lengthy queue outside, took our order and turned to them.

“What’ll you have?”

“I’ll have the hamburger, that Famous one, please” was her request.

“There’ll be a twenty-five minute wait for that. Everything else, the sandwiches, they come immediately.” He spoke with a thick Italian accent that may have been real. I suspect they didn’t understand a word he was saying.

“Oh. Oh… Twenty five minutes? Really?”

The waiter told them, rather brusquely “I’ll come back!”

Three minutes later he came back.

“You ready now?”

“I’ll have the chicken soup,” was his request.

“Which one?” There are umpteen versions on the menu.

“The chicken soup.”

“Which one? Matzoh? Noodles? What?”

“Oh. Oh… I dunno.”

He conferenced with his wife and eventually turned back to the waiter.

I think, yes, I’ll have the matzoh ball soup?”

“And what else do you want. There’s a minimum order per person.” I’m not sure what the minimum was but the couple obviously weren’t going to make it.

“Oh. Ohh…”

“I’ll come back.”

By this time, D and I were tucking into our (shared) three storey corned beef on rye (with a side of pickles). The older couple pushed their chairs back and farewelled us with “Well, we really wanted an American hamburger. You have a great time, though. Yes, all we wanted was an American hamburger. “

The waiter came back.

“They’ve gone have they?”

We nodded.

“Beautiful.”

As he turned away he yelled to the hostess to send two more in.

I wanted to tip him extra just for the entertainment value.

We have two more days here and nothing major on the agenda. We’ve hit the high spots of a visit to New York and now it’s time to wander a few streets.

I realise that I haven’t blogged about the Grand Canyon or Zion Canyon or Las Vegas as yet. I’m still sorting through my feelings about those places (total wonder, total inspiration and total hate come to mind and I’m leaving you to guess which was for which). If you want to see my impressions of these three places, go here.