RE: NJ/NY Day 3...Into the City

Sunday January 7, 2018

       A few years ago, I ran into Suzanne at a company function.  We had worked together many years ago, before she left for the New York Bureau.  She mentioned that she was living in Summit, one town over from New Providence.  To get from where I was staying into the city, I had to change trains there.  So, I dropped her a note and asked if she would be up for coffee. She said yes.  

     I had an hour or so until the train, so I took one last walk into downtown.  The local Friendly's restaurant closed suddenly a couple of years ago, much to the surprise of pretty much everyone.  It just seems wrong that it's being turned into yet another bank.  It'll be number four within two blocks of each other.  In my teens, working here was a first job for many and a hangout for others.  My buddy Jeff and I would stop in on a regular basis.  It seemed as if we knew at least half the staff from school every time.  

     

     The game plan was to meet in the Summit train station,  Easy enough.  There’s a local coffee shop a block away.  After checking out of the motel, I walked to the station and waited with two other potential passengers. 

     The train pulled in, paused for a few seconds and left, leaving the three of us standing on the platform.  When we realized that really was our train and the next one was an hour away we were all pretty annoyed.  One person called a cab because she had to make her flight.  I called NJ Transit.  They swore to me the train had stopped for a minute and a half.  I told them no, it had been less than ten seconds and we were standing on the platform in plain view.  I had them on speakerphone and the other woman waiting shouted "F--- Yeah."  I'm sure the NJ Transit rep heard it.  I got bumped up to a supervisor who claimed the same thing and promised to investigate.   I asked the other two people to call an complain, too.  One person can be tossed aside as a crackpot.  Three, not so much.  

     I called Suzanne and explained the situation.   She came, picked me up and gave me the driving tour of downtown Summit.  I was surprised to see some of the businesses still there.  I was especially surprised to see Scotti's Records still in business.  As a teenager, I bought a lot of music there.
     Another text to my Sis in New York to let her know I was running an hour late(Thanks NJ Transit) and we settled in at a local place called Boxwood Coffee, one block from the station.  Suzanne and I had a blast catching up and need to do it again.

    An hour behind schedule, I did finally catch the train into the city.  My hotel was the Wyndham New Yorker, conveniently located right across the corner from Penn Station.  

     I was a little early for check-in, but Manuel at the desk said it was okay.  He even gave me an upgraded room.  It was perfectly fine for just me.  Two people with luggage would have been crawling over each other.  Best of all, the room had a view...

     I checked in with my sister Mary and she met me in the lobby a few minutes later.  It was a little early for dinner, so we did what we always seem to do, just start walking.  For no real reason, we started walking down 8th Avenue.  Even with the temperature falling into single digits, it seemed strange to see so few people on the streets.  After a while we cut over to 9th Ave. and started walking back uptown, eventually finding our way into a place called the Theater Row Diner.  The food was decent, the company excellent and the staff let us linger for about an hour and a half.  

     Ordinarily, there would be a flurry of photos of New York at night.  But, in all honesty, it was just plain cold.  I only took a few on the walk back...