Walking Cross-Town. 47th, wrong side.

~ Live & Learn

walker-photography-mist-fog-light

6:32 a.m. I exit Grand Central onto 47th. I glance at my watch, plenty of time for the 7 a.m. breakfast.

The crane’s steel arm groans and stretches up four floors. One worker guides the load of sheet rock in through the window. Another waves off the early morning commuters with his red caution flag. He looks me in the eye and directs me to the other side of the street.

I cross.

Have you ever walked this side of 47th? Ever? Eight years. 100’s of cross-town walks. Zero recollection of ever walking on the other side.

I glance over. It’s now free of construction. The wind whistles. Come back. Now. Come Home to me.

I lean right but resist. No.  Not today. Live dangerously DK.  Go way out on a limb.

I walk.

The legs and feet are heavy. I trudge on alien ground. The Amygdala twitches.

I pass delivery upon delivery truck offloading the day’s supplies.

“Fiji Water. Fiji. Untouched by man. Every drop is green.”

I pass the jewelry district

“Time in Motion – Watch Repair”

I pass the Palace Theatre.

“Nothing on Broadway looks like this.”

I pause on Times Square – and there, an invisible hand pulls my head up – Look! A massive neon sign flashes a Hyundai Hybrid auto ad:

“Making the switch…will be like night and day.”

I’m frozen in place as the words flash on the screen.

I pull out my smartphone to peck out the words but they don’t loop back.

I get to the office, and google Hyundai, and smile, after finding the same ad:

THE CURE FOR RANGE ANXIETY IS HERE.
Worried about venturing farther than your
electric vehicle range will let you? Relax.
Get outside your charging zone.

Get outside your charging zone.

Right.

Notes:

36 thoughts on “Walking Cross-Town. 47th, wrong side.”

  6. Laughing,,,glad you charged yourself up across the street from your usual route. But firing up the amygdala? You went from zero to seventy awfully fast…sounds like you’re more of a tesla…😉

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  11. 8 years? Walked the same side of the street for 8 years?

    You know what my Hyundai sign would say to ?
    It would address me by name and say “Can you for once, just once, stay within your charging zone?”

    My Hyundai might talk to me and say it someday.

    Great story, as always, David.

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  12. We are worlds apart, David. Your post is well done but I shuddered to think I might ever have to live like that (in a huge city) surrounded by cement and traffic and all that goes with it. I would be so unhappy there. Having said that, I know there are (obviously) millions of people who love it. I would definitely go out of my (dis)comfort zone, hoping for a recharging station so I could continue my escape from the city.

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    1. We are worlds apart Anneli. There is much about NYC that I love. It still has an incredible magnetic pull. I can see a day in the future that will change, meanwhile the gravitational pull continues…

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  14. Incredible how we become creatures of habit. I can see where the old Amygdala would be on high alert.
    I love the big cities, in my case San Francisco; but maybe it’s because I worked there, but didn’t live there.

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