Big Snow Trash

Upside down snow sofa?  And they say the NYC Sanitation Department is doing a great clean up job!

 

Filming Notice

Notice anything off about this sign?  Copies of it were posted all up and down my block today.

Notice the multiple copies of the sign in this limited view of the block!

The Coffee Fairy

It snowed just a little bit early Friday morning but it was enough that all of the maintenance workers and superintendents were up with the sun, shoveling snow and salting sidewalks.  I, of course, was also out and on my way to work.  My timing was off so I missed the cross-town bus.  I passed the donut and coffee cart on 9th Avenue and 50th Street, where a couple of people were in line, and kept walking toward the building that takes up about half of the whole block.  There was a maintenance worker using a (probably oversized) snow blower to clear the building's sidewalk.  It was obviously a physically demanding job and I paused to let him finish his sweep across the sidewalk, which gave the man who just finished at the coffee cart time to catch up to me.  He walked up to the maintenance worker, two coffees in his hand, and said, "Good morning!  Would you like a coffee?  I bought this to thank you for your work and to warm you up a bit."  The maintenance worker, a bewildered look on his face, took the coffee and warmed his hands for a moment.  Then he took a sip, exhaled, and gave the man a big smile of thanks.  I continued on my journey to the Bronx with a big smile on my face, thinking, "Thank goodness there are people like that in the world!"

When Snow Attacks

This week our new Education Chancellor, Cathie Black, made a major mis-step in keeping schools open right after a big snow.  I made it to school in the Bronx but over 30 of our staff members (we only have 44 teachers and I'd guess about 15 paraprofessionals) called in to say they weren't able to make it and only about 120 of our 650 students showed up.  Parents were calling to see if they should send their kids to school and the office was having to tell them, "School is open but we have a very limited staff."

I knew it would be a crazy day when I saw this at the end of my street:

Notice the trashcan -- it gives some perspective on how low the crosswalk signal is hanging.

You can see the streets have kind of/sort of been plowed.  My cross town bus was a bit wobbly as it drove and was having to just stop in the middle of the street.

Snow Garbage

I took my dog, Patrick, to the dog park last week and came upon several bizarre objects stuck in the snow drifts along the way.  The snow arrived 5 or so days before this walk so I was surprised to see such a mess still there!

Caution Tape

A Jeep -- obviously whoever owns it was sitting tight for the week!

At first I thought this was a length of garden hose but, upon closer inspection, discovered it was the handle of the snow shovel!

Found in the Laundry

I was doing laundry before the holidays and, lo and behold, found a guitar pick wedged into the drier I opened!  Ah, the joys of living in close quarters with strangers!

I know I took the pick, but now I don't know where I put it!

Overdue from 2010

Here are few overheard and sightings from last month!

1. Outside school an elementary school student turns to her older sister and says, "I wish I were a fish!  Then I wouldn't have to go to school!"  Her sister says, "But then you'd only live in water!"  That got the response, "Nuh uh!  I'd only go in the water when I wanted!"
2. I was on the subway in the Bronx and an average looking man got on the train, spit on the floor, and proceeded to discard approximately 20 lottery tickets on the floor.  WHAT?  I don't get it.  Can you imagine what this man's house must look like?  At least he created a barrier between his disgusting spit and the world with the used Mega Millions cards.
3. Check out this jaunty snowman with a paper bag top hat and metallic eyes!

My New Year's resolution for this blog: be more vigilant in writing down things that should be posted here!