Escape from New York

You know those days that everyone thinks are travel nightmares but are actually a breeze? Like when the only flight you can get out of town is on Thanksgiving morning, and there are no lines anywhere and 10 people on the plane? Well, to the list that includes Christmas Eve and July 4th, it’s time to add the Weekend Before The Government Turns Your Town Into The Global Epicenter of Rancorous Political Activism.

As soon as we learned that Union Square would be a major gathering point for waves of splenetic humanity, we decided that Mama and Robert should fly the coop. We left for the airport yesterday at 4 a.m., anticipating hordes of New Yorkers fleeing town like ducks from a gunshot. Imagine my surprise when, a half hour later, my wife and son had cleared security and I was on the M60 headed back to Manhattan.

There just isn’t anyone around. The smart ones skedaddled long ago, and the only civilians left are 1) protestors, 2) delegates, and 3) dopes like me who are irresistibly curious about what will happen when 1) and 2) collide. And I’m not worried about the security. The city is a fortress, under constant surveillance by beat cops and helicopters. We even have the Fuji blimp on loan, so if anything happens, it can roar off in low-speed pursuit.

Apart from a few flare-ups (and record sales of those plastic flexi-cuffs), we’re gonna be fine. If I’m wrong, at least Robert will be halfway across the country, sneaking fistfuls of Grandpa’s birthday cake.

Comments

[Frankenstein]

Unfortunately, taking the first week of school off is not an option for me. ;-)

[rock grrrl]

I, too, am fascinated by the potential collision between 1) and 2), and look forward to being updated via LOD...

[Jewguy]

Were we not deep in Moving Hell, I'd posit that the only real solution to fighting off Convention Week blahs would be, undoubtedly, a tall, frosty glass of Farmer Jon's Oatmeal Stout.

[FrumDad]

I would love to be so blase as to not have thought of the RNC when planning this family vacation, but happy is the me who fortuitiously (or intentionally) planned the family vacation to find said family some 3000 miles from the Republicans and the "splenetic" crowd.

[kelly]

Cake makes it all okay.

[trixie]

oh that's why the blimp is there. i thought so.

[Scott]

My politics alternate between Attilla the Hun and Mother Teresa. (Not in between the two, but wild swings from one end of the spectrum to the other depending on what situation pisses me off.) My wife and I were spending the weekend in the City, when we popped out of Macys and ran smack into the barricades separating the sidewalk from a raucous demonstration against almost everything an old protester holds near and dear. Much to my wife's chagrin (She was born and raised in North Dakota), I heaved my arthritic and graying body over the barriers and marched for a couple of blocks. I was immediately transported to my more activist days during the 60s and 70s on the U of W campus in Madison, WI. Although I kind of missed the smell of tear gas and thump of batons... Damn, it felt good to make a statement again.