The Ramble's Still Wild!

Sebastian made a pilgrimage to introduce his dino toys to their much larger relatives.

Sebastian and I were taking a break from the Natural History Museum and he was playing idyllically by the edge of the Lake in Central Park when I looked down and saw a condom wrapper. Instead of the usual mixture of delight and revulsion I feel when I find them at the playgound (which is often) I felt unmitigated of elation. It was a sort of validation that New York is not dead yet. People are still turning tricks in the Ramble, and doing it safely to boot! What could be better?

Nearby, I also had confirmation that New Yorkers are still rude, which was less encouraging. This woman was seated in a rock, deep in thought. Who knows what she was pondering but it seemed pretty heavy so Sebastian and I gave her some space. Soon, and inexplicably, another woman marched up and sprawled herself on a rock directly in front of the woman (who was having her moment). I guess in retrospect, it might have been a gesture of some kind and it's possible that neither woman was a New Yorker. Either way, it's wack.

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*When I find a condom wrapper on the playground (or its less savory cousin the Dirty Johnnie) I have very mixed feelings. On the one hand there's nuisance and potentially gross cleanup. On the other, one must appreciate the nearly undeniable evidence that someone just got lucky. The Dali Lama says that we should celebrate our neighbor's good fortune.