Yup, that's what some people are apparently calling the 10 inches of slushy snow that pummeled New York on Saturday. While yours truly was traipsing about the borough of Brooklyn hunting down housing. After my umbrella was sufficiently destroyed, my feet soaked through, and my jacket so wet that I was literally shaking with the cold, I called my housing hunt quits for the day after having only made it to 1 viewing out of 3 scheduled appointments. As I fumbled into the subway station, umbrella-less, and shaking snow out of my hair, dropping my credit card and my ID (they were still in my cell phone case from the night before, just general lack-of-togetherness on my part in the art of putting things back in their proper places, really) in the process, a rather hapless-looking older man asked if I could swipe him in. I gathered my belongings, and told him I'd see if I had enough on my card as I wasn't sure I had 2 more entrances available. Sure enough I didn't, as after I got myself in, a measly "$1.15 remaining" blinked on the screen. A full $1.10 too short. I apologized to the man and kept walking. What could I do? I was already in.
A few minutes later, as I chomped on some trail mix I'd bought, I saw him coming down the subway platform - someone else must have swiped him in. I congratulated him on getting in, and asked if he wanted some trail mix. (Yes, I felt bad about having left him standing there by the turnstile.) He accepted my offer and we munched on trail mix in silence. Then he walked along his way. Until a few minutes later when he came walking back towards me, with a sheepish smile, and handed me his umbrella. "Thanks for the snack, but you're all wet, you need this." I protested, told him it was fine, I'd be home soon, didn't he need it? But he insisted. So I took his offering and thanked him profusely. And that umbrella kept me dry between my subway stop and my apartment.
It really is crazy how nice humans can be to each other for really no reason at all. And in other news, Happy Halloween all!
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