METROPOLITAN DIARY
Good Spot
Dear Diary:
Early on a Friday evening in July, my husband drove us to the Upper East Side from Queens so I could get a slice of vegan pizza at Two Boots.
My contribution to the pilgrimage was spotting an open parking spot just a few blocks from our destination as we drove up Third Avenue.
My husband parallel parked and fed the meter. Then we fed ourselves, returned to the car and prepared to head home.
Just then an older woman who was wearing heavy makeup and driving a huge black S.U.V. pulled up next to us and gestured to inquire about whether we were leaving.
Rolling down my window, I told her we were and that the spot was all hers.
“Is it a good spot?” she asked.
I said she would have to pay the meter, but that it was legal to park there. My husband clarified that the meter was no longer in effect, and I called out that she wouldn’t even have to pay.
The woman looked thrilled.
“But is it a good spot?” she asked again.
My husband and I were stumped.
“We’ve liked it!” I said.
— Miriam Jayaratna
Extra-Large Letters
Dear Diary:
As I approach the 20th anniversary of receiving my senior MetroCard, the getting of it is absolutely vivid in my memory.
I was at a mobile unit on 14th Street at Union Square, and it took about three minutes. A woman there processed my information, printed my card and slid it to me under the window.
looked at it and then held it up to her.
“Why does it say ‘senior citizen’ in such extra-large letters?” I asked.
The woman leaned toward the window.
“That’s so you can read it,” she said in a very loud voice.
God, I love New York
— F. Murray Abraham
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/18/nyregion/metropolitan-diary.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
