Tuesday, 20 August 2002 | Recounters

None of it is really that big. Yesterday morning I left to catch the L train to go to work. Pulled off my headphones when I saw the confused crowd and heard the muffled announcements ("nooo traaain"). Stepped on the train, nothing happened, and back off again. As I was standing at the top of the subway entrance wondering what to do, I was approached by two people asking about the status of the noisy metal beast. Not going anywhere, but do you know the best alternative? It turned out they worked two buildings down from me, so we followed each other on a convoluted path toward our common street. On the way there I saw a guy I remembered from Raleigh, but I couldn't remember his name, so I let him pass without saying hello.

Today, (after running into one of my train buddies from yesterday), I met up with a friend I'd met in 1997 in London, whom I've only stayed in touch with via email, and barely. We met in Madison Square Park, after eyeing all of the strangers suspiciously: is that Stuart? Is that Lisa? We hung out in a place that had some connection to O. Henry, walked across lower Manhattan till we reached water, passed an old man slumped in a corner that Stuart had helped a few days before: giving him a dollar, buying him a drink, pulling up the man's pants for him (on request), and we talked about all of the listed taboo subjects (politics, religion, I don't know, sports? The sports part of the conversation was brief).

I don't get tired of walking; it's actually often better than arriving. I don't wish I were somewhere else. I'm strangely content. I keep running into people whom I've seen before. My shoulders hurt from carrying around so much crap; I often wish I had my camera, but then I'd need a third shoulder.