Day 3 Wedding in the Park
"Todd, dude, wake up. They have closed off an entire street for like 10 blocks. You should come check this out."
Once again, Chris was up before me, but to be fair, I was up longer than him the night before. Good old Jim is definitely Jack's illegitimate cousin, but oh so smooth. It seems there is a market of some sorts down the street from our hotel doors. Eric was not getting married until three p.m., and so we had more than enough time to kill. I looked at Chris with one eye, nodded my head, and began the process of waking up.
Ten minutes later, I found myself in a luke-warm shower, then smoking while I got dressed, and waiting the distance to hit the elevator to head to the market...and then smoking again. It was all we did there, and it was continuous. So why stop now, right?
We lost the next couple of hours walking up and down the street, marveling at all the assorted little booths, and breathed the surprising crispness of an autumn day inNew York. The cross streets of the market were patrolled and bordered by the City's finest, and we were able to freely check out our surroundings. There were trinkets, food booths, t-shirts on plastic display cases, bed sheets for sale right next to another who was selling black dress socks; all of this and so much more.
The funny thing is the fact that they just shut down a street almost half a kilometer long, and yet it was only one tiny fraction to the rest of Manhattan; much less New York City itself. I would keep forgetting small little facts like that, then look up and be reminded of where I really was.
Then, I swear to God, I blinked, and I was standing in a small portion of Central Park watching my two old friends say their vows to each other. The party was a collection of Rural Canada, Canadian Rockies, Southern and Northern California, and then there was the Halifax chapter of me and Chris. All of us, in the world's largest city, and having the time of our lives. Well, at the very least, I knew I was loving my time there, and could vouch the same for Chris.
The reception passed quickly with a light dusting of dry jokes, remembering the past, and honouring the future; while outside, the city continued its eternal battle with insomnia. We drank, laughed, and smoked the rest of the time away. Plans were made to go to a pub, we said our congratulations to the bride and groom, and made more plans with Eric the next day. Then, bam, we were gone again.
We found a pub close to the crew's hotel, joined some more from the wedding party, and I listened with joy to the calls of $5 for pints Guinness. Turns out my tattoo was not to be, and so I drowned my sorrows in a glass...okay it was a few more than that. I was no longer worried about how it would thin out blood that would no longer be even drawn from my skin. Not tonight, anyway, and I swallowed my frustration in a gulp of stout, and let it out with an exhale of smoke. Then watched it, like my chances of getting my tattoo, float away into the cool night air, and join the rest of the lost and forgotten stories of New York City.
I sat and drank with Chris, some of the crew, and we laughed and made new bonds. With or without my ink, it was already one of my best trips in a while, and only seemed to get better and better as the minuted ticked by. How was I going to know that it was only going to get better? Until we meet again, people, until we meet again.
"New York's such a wonderful city. Although I was at the library today, and the guys there are very rude. I said, I'd like a card." He says, "You have to prove you are a citizen of New York." So I stabbed him." - Emo Philips
"Todd, dude, wake up. They have closed off an entire street for like 10 blocks. You should come check this out."
Once again, Chris was up before me, but to be fair, I was up longer than him the night before. Good old Jim is definitely Jack's illegitimate cousin, but oh so smooth. It seems there is a market of some sorts down the street from our hotel doors. Eric was not getting married until three p.m., and so we had more than enough time to kill. I looked at Chris with one eye, nodded my head, and began the process of waking up.
Ten minutes later, I found myself in a luke-warm shower, then smoking while I got dressed, and waiting the distance to hit the elevator to head to the market...and then smoking again. It was all we did there, and it was continuous. So why stop now, right?
We lost the next couple of hours walking up and down the street, marveling at all the assorted little booths, and breathed the surprising crispness of an autumn day inNew York. The cross streets of the market were patrolled and bordered by the City's finest, and we were able to freely check out our surroundings. There were trinkets, food booths, t-shirts on plastic display cases, bed sheets for sale right next to another who was selling black dress socks; all of this and so much more.
The funny thing is the fact that they just shut down a street almost half a kilometer long, and yet it was only one tiny fraction to the rest of Manhattan; much less New York City itself. I would keep forgetting small little facts like that, then look up and be reminded of where I really was.
Then, I swear to God, I blinked, and I was standing in a small portion of Central Park watching my two old friends say their vows to each other. The party was a collection of Rural Canada, Canadian Rockies, Southern and Northern California, and then there was the Halifax chapter of me and Chris. All of us, in the world's largest city, and having the time of our lives. Well, at the very least, I knew I was loving my time there, and could vouch the same for Chris.
The reception passed quickly with a light dusting of dry jokes, remembering the past, and honouring the future; while outside, the city continued its eternal battle with insomnia. We drank, laughed, and smoked the rest of the time away. Plans were made to go to a pub, we said our congratulations to the bride and groom, and made more plans with Eric the next day. Then, bam, we were gone again.
We found a pub close to the crew's hotel, joined some more from the wedding party, and I listened with joy to the calls of $5 for pints Guinness. Turns out my tattoo was not to be, and so I drowned my sorrows in a glass...okay it was a few more than that. I was no longer worried about how it would thin out blood that would no longer be even drawn from my skin. Not tonight, anyway, and I swallowed my frustration in a gulp of stout, and let it out with an exhale of smoke. Then watched it, like my chances of getting my tattoo, float away into the cool night air, and join the rest of the lost and forgotten stories of New York City.
I sat and drank with Chris, some of the crew, and we laughed and made new bonds. With or without my ink, it was already one of my best trips in a while, and only seemed to get better and better as the minuted ticked by. How was I going to know that it was only going to get better? Until we meet again, people, until we meet again.
"New York's such a wonderful city. Although I was at the library today, and the guys there are very rude. I said, I'd like a card." He says, "You have to prove you are a citizen of New York." So I stabbed him." - Emo Philips
