Tourists Keep Right

Hanging out on a lovely August evening with the gang Saturday night, sipping on Proseco and Cassis, the conversation bounced around a number of topics... in the space of a few hours, we managed to cover the Russians' invasion of Georgia, the Olympic games opening ceremony, the price of real estate in Manhattan (and the absolutely painful process of furnishing all necessary documentation for a loan), the impending birth of wee twins, and the history of the fake boob. (Yes, you read that right. We are a well-rounded group and can converse on many, many topics. We even had a doctor in our midst who interned with the son of the fake boob inventor.... pre-Dow Corning lawsuits.... at least I think that was the connection... the Proseco made my brain a tiny bit fuzzy by this point in the conversation.)

At one point, Nick and Gemma were comparing notes on where their new offices were located and it turned out that both of them were right in the thick of Times Square (about 10 short north-south blocks from where my office is/was).

They were lamenting (and everyone else was completely sympathetic) about how difficult it is to have an office in or quite near to Times Square because of the volume of tourist foot traffic. If you have been in Times Square, you know what I mean. It is wall-to-wall people there most of the time and if you have an actual destination that you are trying to get to, it is almost impossible to pop yourself out of the slow-moving crowds so you can walk briskly (like a good New Yorker) to your next meeting.

Our solution was that the sidewalks in the Times Square area should really be divided with a dotted white line (like a regular freeway) and every so often, there should be signs saying "Slower traffic keep right".

Tourists to the right, New Yorkers in the fast lane...