Moving around the city

Hey Georgie, thanks for commenting. If anyone else out there is reading this please comment, just say hello so I have a sense of connection.

We are getting around by train, foot and even once a crosstown bus. Today we caught the train from 103rd and Broadway. On this trip we learned that God loves us, that Jesus is good and that Jesus' father made the water. Now I'm glad to hear it. The guy giving out the information was speaking to everyone in general and no one in particular. He looked like an ordinary guy in nice clothes, briefcase in hand standing on the subway platform. What was happening in the platform of his mind is anyone’s guess. Up to this point the story is not so far from something that you could experience in Melbourne. Charles and I moved quietly away and averted our eyes.
Then it got interesting. He went on to tell us about all the other things that God made.
"Jesus' father made the broccoli, yes the broccoli. He also made the sesame chicken." Now we are biting the inside of our cheeks and pursing our lips to seal in the laughter. It is dangerous, firstly because you do not want to raise the ire of a black man in a mainly black neighborhood (if you look on a map you will see that 103rd St is right next to Harlem). Secondly, because the person standing right next to you might look sane, but you never can tell. Anyway our self-appointed savior went on to recite a Chinese menu and tell us how God made it all, and we got on the train.

I snapped a photograph of this couple crossing the road at the intersection of Broadway, Amsterdam and 72nd St. This is where the Lincoln Centre, the Julliard School of Music, the American Library of Performing Arts, the Opera and the ballet can all be found. I liked the crossing couple because the had no entourage. No one to lift her dress off the New York pavement, no groomsmen to attend, just the two of them. The New York traffic offered them no special treatment either, and they struggled across like the rest.
On the way back uptown we witnessed our first subway rumble. It was a fight over a seat and in an instant the courteous veneer was lifted to reveal the obscene racism and violence that underscores the city. Some people told them to cool it, others moved away. I had to force myself to turn my back because idiotic-Australian-open-mouthed gawking is bound to get me into trouble.