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Wednesday, August 17, 2011

On the Small World, called Manhattan

42nd Street, NYC
Photo by myself on 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue.

A woman was having an animated phone call outside the New York Public Library.

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There are many times when New York feels like a small town.

Tuesday morning, for instance, I saw a guy reading a book on the subway. On the way home, I saw the same guy.

He was reading David Byrne's 'Bicycle Diaries'. Granted, I recognized the book (orange cover, celebrity author) rather than that fellow (non-descript, young Brooklynite dressed in jeans).

There were multiple occasions, running into one old coworker on the R train at the oddest times. There was even the time when I recognized a classmate in one of my photos, in the middle of a crowd.

There are so many instances that I don't remember. And instances that happened that I didn't even notice.

Happens all the time.

Related posts: Across the Platform, at 59th Street, On the New York Dress Code, Outerwear 101 and Looking like a Tourist, in Midtown.

10 comments:

Pierre said...

Hi Kitty,

Life is full of coincidence, which eventually become obvious.

Olivier said...

une scene de rue bien vivante

Beatrice B. said...

I have the same in Berlin sometimes... such a huge city but feels like a village from time to time ;)

www.seitenstrasse.blogspot.com

Marcia said...

Sometimes even a state can seem like a small town. One summer I went camping with some friends in the tip of Michigan's thumb and ran into a student I knew from the law school I worked with in Detroit - talk about strange.

Terry at Blue Kitchen said...

It's so true, Kitty! The last time we were in New York, on the way in from Newark on the AirTrain, we saw a guy who caught our attention, for whatever reason. The next day, having lunch in Midtown, I happened to see him walk past the restaurant window! As Steven Wright says, "It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it."

liisamarja said...

i'm going to top you all off. first time ever in NYC 20 odds yrs ago, walking down madison avenue i see a guy from my high school, we went to school in a tiny town, in finland...

Ken Mac said...

I'd like to photoshop out everyone but the yalker and the blonde, then put thought bubbles over their heads.

Kitty said...

Thanks everyone! I loved reading your stories of chance happenings.

Pierre, I knew you would find the poetry in this phenomenon :-)

Thanks Olivier!

Hi Beatrice
I have yet to visit Berlin, but I look forward to soon. All my friends who have visited Germany have come away with it as their favorite European country.

Hi Marcia
That is cool. You think you're getting away from it all but no.

Hi Terry
How funny! To think that you took notice of that guy is something else. You have to think that it was because you'd see him later, no?

Liisamarja,
Your story definitely tops it off. You must have been flabbergasted!

lol Ken!

dianasfaria.com said...

I've had many similar instances like yours in Manhattan. Though now I am beginning to think the whole world is getting smaller. I met someone in Wisconsin last year only to see them walk by me as I sat in a train looking out the window while waiting to depart.
I love this photo Kitty.

Martini F. said...

mi piace molto quest ìo blog. adoro fotografare la gente.
l'espressività di tante personalità diverse

evviva la diversità

MTP

http://mateteperversa.blogspot.com/