Return to the mold farm, part 100

It’s raining big time today. My brain is in rare mold farm form. To be allergic to mold is to be allergic to rain, unless it’s over 80 something degrees, and the humidity is tropical. Then I thrive.

Almost did the ultimate New York thing this morning and called a coffee shop just for coffee as my Cuisinart combined grinder/coffee maker (thermal carafe) revolted, and didn’t want to be taken apart and cleaned. Every section of that machine has to be thoroughly cleaned after each use. In high humidity that includes the grinder, and it didn’t want to be seperated from the mother ship. However….

Went down to The Village yesterday to meet fave sis for an early dinner. Po’s is a very popular Italian restaurant; we could only get a 5:30 reservation. However the restaurant was almost empty at first. Fave sis didn’t understand as they accept only X amount of reservations, and only save your table for ten minutes. Usually there are lines out the door, and it was a summer Thursday when everybody is out.

Fave sis lived in The Village for years, then she was a pioneer (sort of) in The Far West Village (meat market district), then when married and planning on making a baby, they moved to Battery Park City, where they lived in the building closest to The World Financial Center until fave niece was two, and they moved back to Long Island five years before 9/11.

Fave sis’s been a deperate housewife, for awhile now, and couldn’t understand why the restaurant and Carmine Street, itself, were kind of empty.
“Well, sis, it’s early for summer, it’s July 4th week and a lot of people are away. But don’t you understand, people stay home on nights like tonight to watch TV, and they just don’t want to be out. Brings back many memories.”

The restaurant did fill up, and enough tourists and natives came out to make the street look less desolate. I wish that I had bought my real camera, as opposed to my camera phone. Across from the restaurant, hung from an apartment window, was an American flag with a peace sign where the stars should have been. Looked like it had been hung up last summer before the convention, when everybody was on edge and tried to do everything they could to stage peaceful protests.

The subway was empty for eight PM, and a cop who looked distinctly seasoned stood in front of my seat. Couldn’t help but notice that his hands were slightly trembling. And I said yesterday that the NYPD is the best trained? Will continue believing that, but I this morning I read in The New York Times this statement by James K. Kallsttrom, a senior advisor to Governor Pataki, and the former head of the NYC FBI office:

the attacks should be a wake up call to the command in Washington.

He and (reps for) The American Public Association which represents 1,500 nation wide transit agencies believe that not enough money is being set aside for public transportation.

I find this ironic because people are always being urged to leave their cars at home and use public transportation. Why should they if they have a choice? When I arrived at the West 72nd Street subway stop, there were police cars filling the Broadway mall where the stop is located. While I did flashback to that night almost four years ago, when I took a young girl to make the first subways leaving Manhattan for Brooklyn, I have become far too used to seeing this sight, and have had too many free subway rides, as police will stand near the metrocard booths while looking for whoever. It’s really not something a person wants to become used to.

One high ranking New York law enforcement official had this to say:

If you absolutely wanted to, you could do it. My feeling is, it’s a matter of time.

In New York most of us don’t have a choice. We rely on public transportation for everything. We also rely on each other. Most of us enjoy being alive very much. This isn’t an anti-war speech though I believe that the horrific public transportation bombings in London drove home the point that we are going after the wrong enemy. And if you want to argue that point, please go to that other blog Bring it on! where any one of us will be happy to talk about it.

My point is simple: wherever you live, whenever you see a bag on the street without an owner, tell a police person. The life you save might be your own. I have said this many times and am probably the only person in the world who some people will argue this simple possibly life saving point with.

I was on pins and needles last night because of the attack, and for a more personal reason dealing with my apartment that I will discuss tomorrow. Not being able to sleep, or do anything productive I went to my friend and fellow Bring it On! member, Cranky Liberal’s site and made the weirdest comment in the world. Cranky was one of the first people I met on the blogging circuit, and he’s a great and original thinker, but don’t tell him I said that as I don’t want to boost his ego further.

We do think the same about Karl Rove who did come into my city and say that liberals wanted the terrorists to have therapy which is the furthest thing from the truth. This liberal wants terrorists hung from the conjones; just can’t help remembering when Bin Laden was the enemy. Why was his family allowed to leave the country when nobody else (except for Dick Cheney who was permanently in the sky) allowed to fly? Won’t even say what I think about Rove and Valerie Plame. Again, Bring it on!

I hadn’t planned to make this post at all political, but when I see an obviously experienced policeman with his hands trembling….