waiting for emails you are really waiting for all day is a nerve-wracking process.
so this morning was pretty blustery and nasty, and i was running a wee bit late. to expedite my short commute, i decided to splurge and hit a cab. in my neighborhood, there is a proclivity of gypsy cabs, and not very many yellow cabs.
it took me maybe two minutes, and then i was off and… stalling?
every time the cabbie hit a red light, he would turn off his engine. every time it was time to go, he would start up and put it in drive. after a few blocks, i figured he had some sort of coolant problem.
we shot down lex, instead of fifth, because he assured me there would be less traffic. i was not in the mood to argue, so i just put on my headphones and watched the world go by.
when we got to the huge hill at 103rd street, the cab shuddered to a stop halfway up the hill. the cabbie gunned it, and something in the engine gave a rather awful noise. when we got to the top of the hill, white smoke started coming out of the cracks around the hood.
i know a fair bit about cars, and i realize the likelihood of the car just “going up” was pretty low. the smoke was white, so it was probably coolant, or oil, or something equally stupid from a blown tube. i asked the cabby if he wanted to stop. he demanded full fare if we did. i told him i would give him five bucks. he was not amused.
so we limped on. instead of the steam/smoke getting thinner as we progressed, it began getting heavier. by the time we made it to 86th street and lex, it was starting to darken, a sign i knew to be a bad one. i told the cabbie he should pull over because his car was on fire. he refused again, and gunned it down 86th towards 5th. by the time we turned on to 5th, the smoke was so bad, he couldn’t drive. i gave him my fare, and got the hell out of the cab.
he made it another block before the flames licked up in front of the windshield. i watched it happen. as soon as there were flames, he got out of the cab, and started spritzing them with a bottle he had in the passenger’s seat. he then ran to the front of the car, and opened the hood (which is about the worst thing you can do).
the fire department was there 5 minutes later. i was inside by the time, but i hear the sirens. i looked out the window on my way down to pick up an interviewee around nine, and saw the smudge marks. the cab got pretty toasty before it got put out.
what a mess.
getting emails you wait all day for are sometimes a mixed bag, depending on their content.
this evening, leaving work (about 40 minutes ago) the wind was enormous. it was so strong it stopped me in forward motion (something i have only experienced in a hurricane). as i stood on the steps leading to the great hall, this small woman came tumbling past me, not quite head over heels, but about two spins from it.
i snagged her coat with one hand, and twisted her momentum in front of me. i barely kept my footing, but i saved her from what was certainly another 15 stairs to icy pavement. she was rattled, and twisted her ankle, but otherwise unhurt. she ran off as soon as she got her feet beneath her, horribly embarrassed by the whole affair.
today i have been at both the wrong place and the right place at the wrong time and the right time. because of happenstance, and my antics, someone lost their liveleyhood, and someone saved their limbs.
may i say the right things at the right time, not the wrong things at the wrong time.