New Pet Peeve!

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I have a new pet peeve!  Don’t go running, I think you may find this interesting. Those of you who have read my previous emails know that I travel around Manhattan using a motorized scooter and am thrilled that I can maintain a good deal of my independence by doing this.  I moved to Manhattan 11 years ago when I could no longer drive because of my deteriorating eyesight and seizure activity; I couldn’t picture living in suburbia where there is no comprehensive public transportation and where I lived we didn’t even have sidewalks on which I could ride my scooter to run local errands.  I love Manhattan and am happy I moved here, and for the most part I take full advantage of the public transportation.

I have my issues with the subways because most stations don’t have elevators and many of the existing elevators are quite unreliable.  I use the buses, however it took me a year to convince the powers that be that I needed to practice on a parked bus for about ten minutes so I could calculate where to park my scooter on the ramp and when to begin making the backward, 90 degree turn in the front of the bus to go down the aisle, without taking out the driver or the Metro Card machine, and then back the scooter down the aisle in which the front passengers feet are resting without running over them, and then back my scooter into the designated spot that is about ½ inch longer then my scooter.  Whew, and I must do all this while the driver and/or some passengers are calling out suggestions on what I should be doing and commenting on how long it is taking me to get on the bus and how much they resent the delay in their trip.  It’s a good thing I am patient and have a good sense of humor.

I offered to go to a bus depot or the beginning of a bus route to practice on a bus that wasn’t in use for about 10 minutes, but for some unstated reason that was against policy.

I finally got the opportunity to practice and, as I expected, within 10 minutes I had it down pat.  Now I can take the bus, well that model bus anyway, and get where I need to go without anxiety growing inside me from the time I get to the bus stop, and increasing exponentially with each block closer the bus gets to my stop.  There are two other bus models being used in Manhattan but whenever possible I avoid having to use them; I don’t want to repeat the experiences I had on this model before my practice session and I don’t dare suggest I get additional sessions on each model!

And so we get to today’s pet peeve.  In keeping with not wanting to use the other model buses, and because it was a beautiful day, sunny yet not too hot, I took my regular bus down 2^nd Avenue from East 86^th to East 60^th, then drove my scooter from 2^nd to Madison, where I had a doctor’s appointment.  After my appointment I was meeting a friend for lunch at 41^St St. between 7^th and 8^th Avenue.  It was 11:00 and I had an hour to get to the restaurant so I rode my scooter on 59^th Street, from Madison across town to 7^th Avenue.  It was a glorious day and I went several blocks just watching the people and window-shopping.  The sidewalks were crowded so I had to be very careful for those individuals who like to walk in front of scooters and stop suddenly, and the groups of people who line up across the sidewalk and either walk very slow or stand there talking and for some reason cannot see me on my scooter or hear me when I call out, “Excuse me, excuse me, please!”  But it was a lovely day and not even that could upset me.