The Man in the Burgundy Sweater

I'm not sure on what stop this man got on the Downtown #6 train but it was somewhere in the Bronx. I only noticed him since I could hear his rustling over the music in my headphones. I look to my right and see this man with many small black garbage bags in front of him. He seems to be organizing his possessions based on the bags. Not to make assumptions, but the man seems to be homeless or displaced. He doesn't seem to smell or look dirty. He makes an interesting figure.

He looks like he could be in his 50's or 60's of thin build and average height. He's wearing a burgundy colored sweater with brown denim or corduroy pants and sneakers. It's his face that really interests me. He has long stringy brown hair that seems to hang off the sides of his head. He's bald on top. He has a grey bushy beard that adds depth to his otherwise skinny face. His forehead is heavily creased and his mouth is puckered, maybe even toothless. Where his face seems aged his eyes seemed at peace. They looked placid like those of a person who is at ease with the skin that they live in. His eyes lack the look of someone who is living a stressful life. Makes me wonder who he might have been in a former life. A businessman? An administrator? Who. It also makes me wonder who is freer, him without the trappings of everyday life or me saddled with them. I'll never know since he disembarked from the train on 116th Street with all of his black bags consolidated into one big bag slung over his left shoulder. Take care. Happy carefree travels.

FH

The Blonde and the Blabbermouth

The Uptown #6 train pulls into Union Square and groups of people get on and off the train. This one blonde woman gets on and looks at the electronic strip-map and notices that it is a local. I glance in her direction and even though I was wearing my headphones listening to sone Elvis Presley, Stuck on You to be precise, I see she mouths "I want an express". Well, at 5:20am there are no express trains and I tell her so and she thanks me as she gets back on the train. She sits down in front of a black man with thick black rimmed "coke bottle" glasses who proceeds to explain why there are no express trains. Once he's done with that line of talk he starts rambling on about a bunch of nothing. The woman desperately tries to avoid making eye contact with the man but he just continues to talk to no one in particular and laughing at a joke only he seems to find amusing. The look on her face and her posture is priceless. 

She sits there trying dearly to apply the looking through you while looking at you that us New Yorkers have down pat. It doesn't work for her since the man starts right back up talking to her as a few riders, including myself just start chuckling to ourselves. The poor woman looks just miserable. She obviously doesn't want to be rude since he is polite but annoying. At one point she just puts her head back and looks out the window. He just won't stop talking to her. Maybe she wishes that she got off the train and waited for the express that would never come. Better that than the ride she was enduring now. Finally her desired stop approaches and see politely waves goodbye to the man and exits the train. The ironic thing is, she gets off on a local stop. Did she have enough of the jibber-jabber? Hard to tell since I lost track of her as the train pulled away leaving the rest of the passengers to listen to the man with the thick black rimmed "coke bottle" glasses just talk on and on.

FH

Kakes and Stuff NYer of the Week

I just saw the profile of Ms. Margarita Canales of KakesandStuff.net of NY1's New Yorker of the Week. Ms. Canales provides the following service:

“I decided I wanted to give back in tithe and instead of just giving money,” says Canales, “I always wanted to make free cakes for children who never had a birthday or things of that nature, so I put an ad that said ‘if you know someone who is deserving of a free cake or never had a birthday, please contact me.’”

The images of her cakes are amazing and she makes a difference helping bring happiness to those in need. Check out her website KakesandStuff.net and help support her either through Donations or though purchasing cakes from her for your party needs.

Keep up the good work Ms. Canales.

FH

From The Mouth of Babes

I'm waiting for my son to come out from his side of the school and I notice there's a woman with a baby in a stroller and a small dog. The dog takes a shit on the sidewalk without the woman noticing. The small girl that I guess is with her points it out. The lady takes a piece of paper, picks it up and dumps it on the street next to the curb. The little girl takes the woman to task by asking her why she dropped the poop in the street. The woman tells her its in the street, no one will step on it. The girl asks but what if someone slips on it and falls down and gets hurt. All the woman can do is give a nervous laugh as the little girl (and the other parents for that matter) just stood there with her hands hips waiting for the woman to pick it up which by the way, the woman doesn't pick up the shit. Hey lady, nice way to reinforce the kid's positive behavior.

FH

How's This For An Entertaining Commute

There's a couple sleeping at the end of the car that I am on and another man is sleeping across from them on why I like to call the "Four seater". There's another man a few seats from them jabbering about how the man who is laying down is going to get arrested since he's taking up more than one seat. The seated man says that he was  already warned. The adviser keeps jabbering on about getting arrested when the man who is laying down pops up and yells "I am the cops!" to which the woman who is sitting across from him sleeping wakes up and promptly tells him to "Shut The Fuck Up Before I put a Boot in Your Face". Mind you this is going on from Bleecker Street to Astor Place, just one stop. The man who originally spoke about getting arrested was smart enough to get off of the train. This is all on my right hand side. 

Now to my left is a man holding a small Whole Foods bag who seems to have a rubber band around his wrist. He seems to be upset about something since he keeps banging the bag on the floor and snapping the band on his wrist as he repeats the same word that I can't seem to make out. At random intervals he puts his palms out asking for something.

As he's doing that another man gets on the car through the emergency doors as he walks by everyone and gives us the peace sign. The lady sitting next to me says "Is this the looney car". LOL. But it continues.

On enters the man I refer to as the "Please" man. He's the guy who always yells "Please" when asking for money. As he walks by, rubber band man yells out Please for the man to please shut up and proceeds to say please in about five or six languages before going back to snapping the rubber band and talking to himself. And with that I arrive at my stop and get off the train. Talk about an entertaining ride. Beat that.

FH

Just When You Thought Your Night Was Bad

Just when you think you're having a bad night, think about this. I just found a bag at the bar that was left behind and the first thing I find in it after opening it up is a tube of Hemorrhoidal Cooling Gel. Hmm, I guess you can say that someone one is having a worse time than I am. Ouch!

FH

The Sharp Dressed Young Man

Very often I see many of the male youth of this city wearing their pants down past their ass showing us their boxers. I have to admit, it irks me when I see that. But I have to give credit when it's due. Allow me to explain. Sitting down in front of me on the train was this young Latino man. I'm assuming he's a recent High School graduate or a High School senior since he's wearing his HS graduation ring. His hair is short with a nicely shaped sideburns and a small mustache to match. He was clean shaven. He wore a crisp black suit with a stylish peach colored shirt (with a stiff collar I might add). Providing a perfect match for the suit was a black tie with accents of small martini and highball glasses. The irony is that he might not be old enough to enjoy an alcoholic drink but he wears the tie well. He has a simply gold colored watch along his left wrist. He has on simple black shoes and the only flaw I would find in his ensemble are the white socks he's wearing. In my opinion, dark socks with a dark suit is preferable. At last, there's a sign of hope with the youth of this country. Always look good my young Latino brother. You're the future. Represent us with the pride and class that you show with how you're dressed.

I Don't Have ID, Will This Do?

Tonight's conversation of the night went as so:

Hello ladies, I need to see your IDs.

I just need to use the bathroom.

I still need to see your ID.

She proceeds to show me her ID and mentions to her friend that she can't come in since she has no ID. The second woman says:

I can't go in and just use the bathroom?

I would need to see your ID if you want to come into the bar.

But I don't have one.

After a quick second, she continues.

Yo my nigga, look at my butt.  

And she proceeds to point her butt in my direction. I had to admit, she had a cute little butt. 

Now, normally that wouldn't work on me but since it was a slow night and she got a good laugh out of me with her quick thinking, I let her in to use the bathroom. After a quick few minutes in the crapper, they bid me thanks and a good night and off they went. 

Sometimes you have to just laugh. Showing me her butt was definitely a new way to get me to laugh.

FH