During those days of continuous condo-fishing while waiting for the Spanish couple’s response, we were browsing NY in all directions (I will call it ‘fishing’ since we had to ‘pursue, capture and release’ our target, release it once the lease would be over).
Karen from Inwood would show us her place that evening, and would call me in the afternoon to confirm.
It seems that in NY, half the people are very much ‘Swiss’ in terms of punctuality, and half the people are very much the opposite; and you never know until you are meeting with one or the other. The whole subway grid was under major maintenance work. Although I would religiously check their website for scheduled service interruption and alternative routes, it seemed that there was at least once a week an unscheduled event that I would have to ‘endure’. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the last stop of this train as ‘express service’. This train will then be stopping at every station.” “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the last stop of this train running as “C”; from next stop on, it will make the “V” train route, again, it will run like the “V” train.” Needless to say these unscheduled changes would take place on my way to an appointment with a “Swiss” New Yorker! Of course, and just to add to the stress, there is no reception underground –at least for my super basic cell phone-, and that meant I was swallowed by the big black hole for hours and would come out to the bright surface with a few TXT in desperation, which would incidentally pop out at their own leisure.
Just to top it up, I later learnt from a friend who has been living in Manhattan for a while, that New Yorkers deem as unacceptable giving ‘the subway’ as justification for one’s delay!
Karen never called or answered my e-mails, voicemails and TXTs.
Lesson 1: Even in the US, even in the capital of the world, always plan and allow for the unexpected. Lesson 2: Even in the US, Murphy’s Law applies, just like a Physics law- you can never get away from it, regardless of your geographic location.
2 comments:
You make me laugh talking about something as boring as looking for an apartment and the subway :) :) :) BTW It's kind of like in BA with the difference that in BA the subway, roadblocks and demonstrations are considered to be perfectly good excuses to be late! And we do have reception on the underground. Who would have thought?
My cell phone is very basic- One of these incidents 'earned' me a tell-off (should have asked before deciding on this provider) -and not precisely by a potential landlord! :)
Stay tuned for more fishing adventures. This is just the beginning!
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