City Streets

Today Elaine & I strapped on our walking shoes and hit the streets of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.  Well…I strapped on shoes.  Elaine decided to ride in style.  Elaine donned a layer of sunscreen, I grabbed a water bottle and we headed down the front steps, glad that the car  (& stroller in the trunk) was  parked just across the street.  We were headed for an adventure.  There were a few notes jotted on my list, but we were out for nothing in particular. 

We crossed the street and had a bagel at Bagel Villa on 5th Ave.  Pumpernickel with butter.  Mmmmm.  One for today, and two for tomorrow.  Back on the street, we greeted our neighbor just coming for coffee.  First lesson of the city streets: they didn’t design these narrow doors & shops for baby strollers!  And definitely not for a pram! 

Hair salon.  I decided to pop in for a trim.  I chickened out on going short, and opted to keep my long layers.  Well…as much of them as were left.  It was a Chinese hair salon that I happened to walk into, and I’m not sure the guy spoke as much English as I assumed. Not too bad, though. A girl walked in after me.  What did she want?  To pay $10 just to get her hair washed and blow dried.  I thought, “Maybe her shower is broken or her hair dryer doesn’t work, and she needs a style to go to work.” But when the second girl came in for the same thing, I was surprised.  I guess it’s a New York thing, but I would keep my $10 and wash & dry my hair myself!  Lesson learned: Ask someone else where a good salon is before getting a cut!

We live on 73rd Street, and Elaine & I decided to make the 13 block trek to 86th Street where the big shopping is at!  It was fairly warm so we had a Starbucks Frappuccino to cool off.  Last one for a while…I used up my gift card!  Lesson learned: there is never enough whipped cream on a Frappuccino, especially when you have to share it with your baby.

Then we stopped in a store called Century Twenty-One.  It is a department store with great prices.  We found some plastic bibs for Elaine since she has decided to become an independent (and very messy) eater.  When I went looking for the housewares department I was instructed to walk across the street.  Wow!  I guess that’s how they do department stores here!  Lesson learned: they staple your bag closed so you can’t shoplift anything on the way out!

I invented a new use for the plastic links on Elaine’s toys.  They work great to hold shopping bags on your stroller! 

I’ve been seeing these green mail boxes on the corner next to the blue mail drop boxes.  They say “storage” on them.  Today I found out why.  The mail truck pulls up and turns halfway around the corner.  He is blocking the crosswalks in both directions.  He unloads several boxes of mail into the storage boxes.  The mail carrier is waiting on the corner, on foot, with a wheeled cart, and she just takes the mail out of the storage box to deliver it.  Interesting.

We found some teething tablets at a corner pharmacy.  Maybe they will turn Elaine’s crabby disposition back to cheery. I bought some flip-flops at the “99 Cent & Up” store.  Lesson learned: most items in these stores fall into the “& up” category, and there are 2-3 such stores per block.  We tried a new grocery store on the way home.  Their milk prices were decent, but I probably won’t go back there unless I’m in a pinch.

Ahhhh.  Home again.  We’ll save the park & library for another day.  Lesson learned: when you’re arriving home with a stroller full of  groceries, etc. you really wish you didn’t live on the third floor.  I guess I’ll have good muscles from climbing the steps with baby & bags in tow all the time!

Come visit some time and we’ll hit the city streets together!