REMEMBER THE TRANSIT STRIKE LAST YEAR?

First day of the transit strike and the Slope feels busy and
festive. The public school kids started school two hours later than
usual. The  parents I saw looked cheerful, happy for the extra hours of
sleep (if they didn’t have to schlep into the city themselves). One
friend in front of PS 321 said, "You’ve got a story for your blog
today."

My personal angle: despite the extra two hours to get ready, OSFO was still a tiny bit late for school. It did seem that a lot
of people were late or taking it slow getting to school.  The assistant
principal and the math specialist were standing at the entrance and
smiling as the kids and parents streamed in.

Seventh Avenue was packed with people as if it were a weekend. At
11:00 this morning, Grand Canyon was full of leisurely breakfast eaters
(what? brunch on a Tuesday). At 1 pm, every table at the  Park Diner on
Seventh Avenue between Berkeley and Union was full and there was barely
room for the waiters to move around.

The Slope feels like a weekend this Tuesday with no subways or buses
working in the city. Not so sure about Bloomberg’s line: "The city is
working even if the subways and buses are not." He said it this morning
crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, having spent the night on a cot at the
Department of Emergency Managment, which is in Brooklyn.

But it looks to me like people aren’t going into the office today.

The main difference between this strike and the one in 1980: we’ve got computers now and many of us can work from home.

The phenomenon of women wearing sneakers to work (keeping their
heels in their bags) started at the last transit strike. I wonder if
there will be any fashion breakthroughs this time around.

Hepcat was supposed to start a new job today. Not. He decided not
to walk to mid-town. Teen Spirit’s  school is already on vacation. Daughter
still has a few more days left before Christmas: and she really
appreciated the later start time.

Overall, it’s probably a boon to local shops and car services. I
haven’t even TRIED to call Eastern Car Service today. I wonder if
they’re jacking up the prices.

Hope not. I’d lose all respect for them if they did.

–Written on December 20th 2005