A Beautiful Sunday Morning

by Marinka on July 19, 2010

Yesterday, I was returning home from my workout, excited to have it behind me and looking forward to a blissful Sunday with my family (and looking ahead to Real Housewives of New Jersey to boot).

I stopped at the light on Sixth Avenue.  And so did one of those enormous double decker buses that is filled with tourists who want to see NYC without actually mingling with the Great Unwashed. The top deck was filled with people who looked like my in-laws in their Sunday finest.  What a fun day for them!

Some guy stopped on his bike near the bus.

“Hey, where are you guys from?” he shouted to the passengers.

No one answered him.

Even though Sprint was practically filming their you can hear a pin drop commercial right there.

Some people shifted in their seats.  Others looked down.

No one wanted to  make contact, eye or human, with the native.

He took it in true NYC stride.

“Well, FUCK YOU FROM NEW YORK CITY, baby!” he yelled and biked off.

From the looks on their faces, I’d say he made their trip.

My only regret is that I didn’t yell “and your little doggy, too!” to show my camaraderie.

One year ago ...

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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }

Pauline
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July 19, 2010 at 7:47 am

I bet if the guy shouted “O-H…” the tourists would have yelled back in unison “I-O!!” I guarantee it.

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Christine July 19, 2010 at 7:49 am

He did make their trip. We took our three kids to Paris in May and the hands down highlight for them was being mooned by half a dozen French teenagers on the banks of the Seine while we drifted past them in the boat version of that double decker bus.

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traci July 19, 2010 at 9:09 am

P is SO right. They would have all known to finish off the O-H chant.

Fucking midwesterners.

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Loukia July 19, 2010 at 10:20 am

Sometimes when strangers approach me I am like a deer in headlights. Unresponsive! LOL! Did I tell you the story about my 5 a.m. subway ride back to my friend’s house in Queen’s? Some dude started playing with my hair in the seat behind mine. I couldn’t even turn around to tell him to stop. I just… let him play as I sat there praying to God I would not die because my dad would be so pissed off at me if I died on a fucking subway ride at 5 a.m. in NYC. He’d for sure know I was out drinking and stuff!

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Awesome dude July 19, 2010 at 11:47 am

These tourists are shell shocked by the City and mentally constipated at the same time. I see it all the time…

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Carol Ramsey July 19, 2010 at 12:53 pm

Hello! I’m not from Ohio, I’m from Austin and about a month ago I was sitting on top of one of your double-decker tourist buses and I thought it was great. My husband and I learned about the Manhattan neighborhoods in a way that couldn’t be done walking or riding the subway. Our guide told us about our two favorite places – the Tenement Museum and Lucky Cheng’s. We braved it on the streets with the locals too, walking on the Brooklyn Bridge and taking the subway to a tiny, authentic Portuguese restaurant near the water that even my Grandma would love. So don’t be so hard on us simple-minded folks outside of the big city, we aren’t all bad. I would even say that Austin rocks way more than NYC, in ways that I care about, but I don’t want to start something…

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Sophie@Fabrications July 19, 2010 at 1:00 pm

They were from Israel. Too many years of it not being a good idea to say we’re Israelis are taking their toll on us. We simply can’t answer that question, not even at gunpoint.

What? Oh, me? I’m simply insane.

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Maddnessofme July 19, 2010 at 1:09 pm

I was home by Sunday so it wasn’t me. Speaking of unwashed, Tues it was raining so hard in NYC that the sewers were over flowing. I was forced to step in this in my flip flops at a few intersections. I couldn’t boil my feet long enough to get rid of the skeevy feeling.

Saka Gura on 43rd, best Japanese restaurant ever. But it’s underground (literally) and I’m not sure how we (tourists) got in without a passcode.

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christy July 19, 2010 at 6:59 pm

If I had been on that bus I would have yelled right back at him! And I’m sort of embarrassed to admit it, but the last time I was in NYC – last October – I WAS on one of those buses. They’re fun! ha!

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Jen July 19, 2010 at 7:03 pm

Aw, sad! I was a tourist on top of a bus about two weeks ago. It wasn’t because we wanted to avoid the unwashed masses though. It was because we had a lot of city to see in very little time and it seemed like a good thing for first time visitors to do. We enjoyed the bus tour but I did have a sneaking suspicion that actual New Yorkers would think we were lame for liking it.

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anna see July 19, 2010 at 8:13 pm

so when i’m in ny for blogher, am i to expect such a lovely greeting? 🙂

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Rachel July 19, 2010 at 8:48 pm

Awesome. Love this.

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frogmama July 19, 2010 at 9:41 pm

That story got me all choked up. I miss NYC. Sigh.

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The Lady Ashefield July 22, 2010 at 2:05 am

Marinka!
i live for those classic NYC moments- especially now that i’m an “OLD” and my neighbourhood is filled with young girls all dressed as SITC characters…and worse- drunk frat boys in their flip flops. ick!

i would have yelled back…” 212 FCUK YOU!”

seriously- i liked it when we were an island of misfits- i think we still are, but now we’re gawked at.

Signed-
The Lady Ashefield

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Jodi F July 26, 2010 at 12:03 pm

Took my 16yo son to NYC in June but we didn’t ride a double decker bus. We walked our feet to nubs, figured out the subway, and took a city bus to and from LGA. He asked me, “Why does everyone have an accent?” Ummm, son, WE DO TOO. Being Southern and all. But now he declares that he is a city boy and wants to move to NYC.

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