lunchtime miscellany

After several days of oppressive heat and humidity, we have had a couple of nice days here. I had a lunch meeting yesterday and couldn't get out, but today I got out of the building. Zabar's is just a few subway stops from here. They have outstanding coffee at really reasonable prices, and I walked a good bit of the way back.

As I was walking towards the subway stop to go to Zabar's, I gained ground on this man walking. Just from a few things, I thought, "This guy has a Napoleon complex." Everyone in NYC has a complex. It's the thing to do. Anyway, this guy was short - probably about 5-2. He had fairly well-developed biceps. The main thing, though, was that he wasn't walking so much as he was strutting. I remember the opening theme from that old CBS show The Jeffersons. George Jefferson would walk with his arms held stiff and just out from the side, and he rocked them as he walked. That was the mirror of this guy I saw.

All of a sudden, he bent down and picked up someone's partially smoked cigarette. He smoothed it out and put it in his mouth. Add another thing to the list of "I thought I had seen it all..."

NYC has a love-hate relationship with smoking. Cigarettes cost about $10 a pack. Smoking is prohibited in restaurants and bars. As someone who has never habitually smoked, I love it. Still, I'm friends with a few smokers and they hate it. Smokers are "banished" to outside in most places, and they show their disdain by throwing cigarette butts all over the place.

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I made it to Zabar's with nothing else really noteworthy, got my coffee, got some tea, and was heading out when I saw these loaves of freshly baked olive bread in the bakery. We're having tapas tonight, and that bread will be perfect for it. (That's a great thing about NYC. You can always find something that will make a "perfect" meal.) The line was short, so I started to wait to get a loaf. Picture the bitchiest stereotypical old Jewish woman you can imagine. She was hassling the bread guy. He had to hold up about a half dozen rounds of sourdough bread before she saw one that satisfied her. She kept cackling, "That one's not round enough."

Then she had him slice it. Oy vey!

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Hey, at least the Yankees took two out of three at Boston this weekend. Go Yankees!