I overheard a man, speaking in a perfectly full voice, say to another man: “You drunk and masturbating.” He said it twice, laughing. The person to whom he said this did not seem to have a problem with the comment, as he was laughing, too. This was at a park I think was called Todd Memorial, which was adjacent to a football field that was unsuitable for any kind of sporting activity on account of being ridiculously overgrown.
I feel like a damn tourist, wandering about with no particular destination and, really, no clear sense of where the hell I am going. I ended up at the Ikea. I’d never made it there until today. This lack of Ikea has not been a void that I absolutely needed to fill. But I’d always been kind of curious about it and the surrounding area. It turns out I had no desire to be there once I entered. Ikea just looked like a Home Depot. The cafe might have been something but the lines were insane.
I also wandered into an utterly palatial grocery store. Pretty sure it was a Trade Fair but I could be off. I odn’t even think the Food Bazaar on Northern Boulevard is bigger than this place. I wanted to buy a container of strawberries. But guess what? In that entire store there was only one cashier. I must be wrong about this but the line of about 18 people seemed to suggest there was no other way to place to pay for things. So I left the strawberries in a bin full of pre-made sandwiches and soldiered on.
The Waterfront Museum and surrounding environs are quite nice. I saw a water taxi arrive and depart, reminding me of the time I took one of those to Governors Island. The captain of that vessel drove that taxi like a fucking maniac. Maybe they are all insane, that posse of water taxi cowboys. Others on the boat mumbled in agreement that this captain was insane and crazy. But we got there alive.
I hopped a B61 from Ikea, thinking that the walk back was going to be far longer than it actually would have been. And wouldn’t you know, the only payphones I saw today were from the bus, which passed by too quickly for me to get pictures or to have hold and caress in my own two hands. A couple of phone outside the Red Hook houses Easy looked like they probably worked. not sure about the other one, which looked fully intact but probably abandoned. That was outside a giant parking lot.
Took a shit ton of pictures but only brought the damn cameraphone. Such a stupendously beautiful day, I could have scored some Pulitzers with the Sony a77.
I had just e-mailed someone that I did not especially like this part of Brooklyn, adding that I am not even sure I like New York anymore. Then I went off and discovered all this cool shit. Yesterday I discovered Fulton Mall, an area I think I have stepped into once or twice but never really got the gist of the whole place. A lot of payphones. Yay.
Well, I am going back out. It’s too beautiful a day to be stuffed into this tiny little room, which I actually like quite a lot.