a bit of an adventure

roadnotes and I were sitting on a bench in Fort Tryon Park, talking, after a visit to the Cloisters, and heard a woman shouting. I thought she'd said "dropped my money", Velma thought it was "robbed my money." Then someone came along and told us, confusedly, that the woman had been robbed, and suggested that we do something about it. (Why us? I don't know.)

The woman came toward us, and started to explain what had happened: she'd been robbed of her bag, including her money, cellphone, and passport. She asked us to come with her and help her look for the attackers. We followed her down the path, and I took out my cellphone and called 911, because I thought the police were more likely to be able to do anything useful than I was. This led to a long, complicated effort to explain to the 911 operator that no, I wasn't at 1 Margaret Corbin Circle, the only street address she could find for Fort Tryon Park, I was on a path next to the Henry Hudson Parkway. (Somewhere along there, Velma and I had realized that running after two muggers about whom we knew little might not be a great idea, and slowed down quite a bit; the woman who'd been robbed was thus well ahead of us.) And then "we're at the exit into Fort Tryon Park, right next to the highway" and finally getting her to accept that and handing the phone to the crime victim so she could tell them what had happened and attempt to describe the muggers. At that point we at least learned that there had been no weapon involved, which was something of a relief.

So there we were, standing next to a highway exit, one of us on a cell phone: a very normal tableau in a slightly abnormal location. Waiting, watching the cars go by.

I wound up calling the precinct, in the hope of talking to someone who could understand our location; I was on the phone with them when two police cars pulled up. Our new acquaintance got into a police car and waved a thank-you as we explained that no, we weren't with her, we were just the people she'd met who had a cell phone.

As we headed back to the stairs [1], a driver pulled over just ahead, came toward us, and asked if we knew our way around the area. I said yes. It turned out she wanted to know what highway she was on, and whether that was anything like the Hutchinson. She had directions that seemed to involve taking the West Side Highway to the Hutch to the Taconic; I advised her to ask at the tollbooth for better directions than we could give. But we assured her that she was heading in the right direction.

We climbed back up, and I discovered that a different 911 operator had left two voice mail messages trying to find out our location, while I was on the phone with the precinct. The first also asked, again, for a description of the muggers. I am not impressed with the 911 operation. We got back to the Heather Garden, and saw the police and our acquaintance again. We helped them sort out where we'd been when we saw her after the mugging. Then a woman asked us what had happened, and said she'd seen someone odd-looking, so I called one of the police officers over to talk to her.

And then we hugged each other, talked a little more, and took the A train in opposite directions.

( gym numbers, as usual )

[1] We'd both been trying to avoid stairs, because our knees were bothering us, but sometimes the situation and landscape don't cooperate with such intentions. (Don't ask why we were at the Cloisters, then (our knees were happier when we made the plan.))

a bit of an adventure

roadnotes and I were sitting on a bench in Fort Tryon Park, talking, after a visit to the Cloisters, and heard a woman shouting. I thought she'd said "dropped my money", Velma thought it was "robbed my money." Then someone came along and told us, confusedly, that the woman had been robbed, and suggested that we do something about it. (Why us? I don't know.)

The woman came toward us, and started to explain what had happened: she'd been robbed of her bag, including her money, cellphone, and passport. She asked us to come with her and help her look for the attackers. We followed her down the path, and I took out my cellphone and called 911, because I thought the police were more likely to be able to do anything useful than I was. This led to a long, complicated effort to explain to the 911 operator that no, I wasn't at 1 Margaret Corbin Circle, the only street address she could find for Fort Tryon Park, I was on a path next to the Henry Hudson Parkway. (Somewhere along there, Velma and I had realized that running after two muggers about whom we knew little might not be a great idea, and slowed down quite a bit; the woman who'd been robbed was thus well ahead of us.) And then "we're at the exit into Fort Tryon Park, right next to the highway" and finally getting her to accept that and handing the phone to the crime victim so she could tell them what had happened and attempt to describe the muggers. At that point we at least learned that there had been no weapon involved, which was something of a relief.

So there we were, standing next to a highway exit, one of us on a cell phone: a very normal tableau in a slightly abnormal location. Waiting, watching the cars go by.

I wound up calling the precinct, in the hope of talking to someone who could understand our location; I was on the phone with them when two police cars pulled up. Our new acquaintance got into a police car and waved a thank-you as we explained that no, we weren't with her, we were just the people she'd met who had a cell phone.

As we headed back to the stairs [1], a driver pulled over just ahead, came toward us, and asked if we knew our way around the area. I said yes. It turned out she wanted to know what highway she was on, and whether that was anything like the Hutchinson. She had directions that seemed to involve taking the West Side Highway to the Hutch to the Taconic; I advised her to ask at the tollbooth for better directions than we could give. But we assured her that she was heading in the right direction.

We climbed back up, and I discovered that a different 911 operator had left two voice mail messages trying to find out our location, while I was on the phone with the precinct. The first also asked, again, for a description of the muggers. I am not impressed with the 911 operation. We got back to the Heather Garden, and saw the police and our acquaintance again. We helped them sort out where we'd been when we saw her after the mugging. Then a woman asked us what had happened, and said she'd seen someone odd-looking, so I called one of the police officers over to talk to her.

And then we hugged each other, talked a little more, and took the A train in opposite directions.

( gym numbers, as usual )

[1] We'd both been trying to avoid stairs, because our knees were bothering us, but sometimes the situation and landscape don't cooperate with such intentions. (Don't ask why we were at the Cloisters, then (our knees were happier when we made the plan.))

(no subject)

My LiveJournal trading card: collect the whole set!

LiveJournal Trading Cards Paid Account Edition redbird User Number: 31252 Date Created:2000-12-07 Number of Posts: 509 Redbird is a gleeful traveler, as long as she knows where the tea kettle is. Her bag generally contains tea, two or three books, and seven different colors of pen. Strengths: Inquisitive, cheerful, and creative. Redbird has a good grasp of English grammar, and a willingness to fumble through any of the Romance languages to communicate, especially if food is involved. Lost? She'll sort you out. Weaknesses: Thinks of more projects than she completes; needs 8-9 hours of sleep every night. Special Skills: Inventing answers to problems, finding her way around by subway/metro/underground Weapons: The pen is mightier than the sword Foods: Tangerines, chocolate, watermelon, bread, tea, duck, lamb, almost anything stir-fried and served over rice

Make your own LiveJournal Trading Card!
Brought to you by crossfire_

(no subject)

My LiveJournal trading card: collect the whole set!

LiveJournal Trading Cards Paid Account Edition redbird User Number: 31252 Date Created:2000-12-07 Number of Posts: 509 Redbird is a gleeful traveler, as long as she knows where the tea kettle is. Her bag generally contains tea, two or three books, and seven different colors of pen. Strengths: Inquisitive, cheerful, and creative. Redbird has a good grasp of English grammar, and a willingness to fumble through any of the Romance languages to communicate, especially if food is involved. Lost? She'll sort you out. Weaknesses: Thinks of more projects than she completes; needs 8-9 hours of sleep every night. Special Skills: Inventing answers to problems, finding her way around by subway/metro/underground Weapons: The pen is mightier than the sword Foods: Tangerines, chocolate, watermelon, bread, tea, duck, lamb, almost anything stir-fried and served over rice

Make your own LiveJournal Trading Card!
Brought to you by crossfire_

(no subject)

I just had a long and mostly cheerful conversation with elisem, with only occasional requests by one of us for the other to repeat something that had clearly been misheard. I had to remind myself that nodding doesn't work over the telephone, though. I may have to get to Minneapolis soon, so we can do this in three dimensions, with gestures and all that good stuff, and share food again.

(no subject)

I just had a long and mostly cheerful conversation with elisem, with only occasional requests by one of us for the other to repeat something that had clearly been misheard. I had to remind myself that nodding doesn't work over the telephone, though. I may have to get to Minneapolis soon, so we can do this in three dimensions, with gestures and all that good stuff, and share food again.