The Passageway
I spent much of last week in my office in New York City. There were two days of solid meetings for strategy setting for 2025 and beyond.
When I spend days in the City, they are big, busy and loud. I start early, packing my bag for the office, and heading to the ferry. As the ferry draws away from the pier next door to my home, the energy changes, anticipation builds, and I enter the passageway to NYC. In 20 minutes, when we pull up to the 39th Street Ferry Station, New York is in full force. It feels like watching a movie in fast-forward. People push their way off the ferry, into the terminal, out the door, onto the bus where we all squish in together…it’s always full.
Then we head up 34th street, dropping people as we go, and I get off right in front of Penn Station for a quick jaunt to the office. During this short trip, I see the most interesting things. Whether it’s the beggar asking for a dime whilst opening up a brand new pack of cigarettes, or peddlers selling their wares from a blanket on the sidewalk, there is a wide variety. The food carts are bustling, even early in the morning, and the smells that waft up from them are enticing, though I haven’t brought myself to eat from one yet. The taxi and bus horns are now going full-force, the ringing of the bike bells and the sirens are all part of the experience. The beeping of backing-up trucks blends in with the yells of the construction workers, the shrill police whistles, and the smoke mixes with sweat and trash for a nose-wrinkling aroma.
I always stop by the Starbucks next to the office where there is the oddest phenomenon. There are homeless people lining every street, and yet – the honor system works at Starbucks. People order their drinks on their apps, and they are placed, unsupervised, at the end of the counter in alphabetical order. When the purchaser arrives, everyone just behaves themselves and takes only their drink. I must admit, sometimes I want to just take the yummiest looking drink instead of my black iced coffee, or my Libra tea (combination of green and black because I have a hard time making up my mind).
Actually, that is how I ate the very best Subway sandwich of my life. The finished sandwiches were accidentally mixed up, and I grabbed the wrong one. By the time I realized it, I was half-way home. It was the most delicious thing I’d ever eaten. I was expecting a plain turkey with Swiss on wheat, but I got some juicy, dripping, saucy, meaty, vegetably thing on decadent white bread. I feel sorry for the poor guy who got my boring ol’ turkey on wheat.
After a day in the office, I then battle my way back to the ferry – either catching the free ferry bus (which arrives at random times), or calling for a car, or hailing a cab, depending on my level of fatigue and the weather. Then I head back to the midtown ferry to board the little boat that sweeps me into the passageway out of NYC. The fast-forward slows down to real time, and I can start to breathe and unwind. This photo was taken at the ferry station, right before I got onto the ferry bringing me to my calm, beautiful and peaceful home.
In Arthur news, he was here today swimming with daddy in the pool, and then came inside for a long, warm bubble bath with cups and toys, rubber duckies and those little wind-up toys that flap their wings through the water. We played with bubbles on the deck, enjoyed some tomatoes, yogurt and green olives, and then he fell asleep on the way home. Another perfect day.
