Yes, I was fool enough to drive in Manhattan. Don’t ask what posessed me, but I drove OSFO to an appointment on East 67th Street. Actually, that wasn’t too bad. The Brooklyn Bridge and the FDR were not very crowded at 11 o’clock in the morning.

But as the day progressed…

It was nightmarish. I had a miserable trip crosstown at 65th Street, a miserable crosstown trip at 86th Street. Hellish traffic on Park, Lexington, Second Avenue and lower Broadway. Yellow cabs zigging and zagging, trucks, lunatic drivers…And tour buses. All those tour buses on Lower Broadway.

Finally, at around 4PM I got back on the Brooklyn Bridge and arrived in Brooklyn. Glory be. OSFO and I stopped at a relatively quiet Starbucks on Court Street and then drove on Dean Street to Park Slope.

Dean Street was almost traffic-free. The streets were quiet, the trees were green, the architecture beautiful, and the light perfect. No doubt about it Brooklyn is more pleasant than Manhattan. No wonder I take trains everywhere. Underground, you’re barely aware of the insanity going on on the streets of Manhattan. I so much prefer riding a train and reading a book to the aggravation of driving in Manhattan.

N’est ce pas?