Pbenjay's Blog

Who ever said New Yorkers weren’t friendly?  The most recent snowstorm (I mean pretty soon they will be given names, we’ve had so many) caused our car to be buried in snow and impacted with ice by the snow plows.  Since the day seemed warmer than most, I thought the snow which was now black and yukky would be soft and we (meaning Peter) should try to shovel away some of this gritty stuff otherwise the car looked like it might be there, unmovable at least until April.  It was NOT soft, it was mounds of ice pretending to be snow!  Peter got the handy (remember who insisted we buy it to keep in thecar)  shovel out of the car with great difficulty and attempted to clear away the snow. He wasn’t making much headway at all when a young man came along with his daughter and asked Peter if he needed help.  Peter replied that he wasn’t really going anywhere today, just trying to get rid of some of the snow.  Well, the man said he would help him as soon as he brought his daughter upstairs and he could help out for about 15 minutes before his dinner guests arrived.  True to his word, Pierre returned with his own shovel and he and Peter proceeded to chop ice away from the front and the back mounds.  After a lot of effort enough had been cleared so he could move the car forward and backward a few feet.  However, as it turned out that still wasn’t enough to get the car out!  It so happens that the parking space in front of our car had been cleared away yesterday by the previous occupant.  And as luck would have it, that car pulled out of the spot – now if only Peter could get the car out and pull into that space, he would be in good shape.  BUT of course if he was able to pull the car out, he wouldn’t need to change parking spots!!!  David, one of the handymen in our building who had come across the street to help, had a brilliant idea.  He told Peter to drive the car up on the sidewalk and literally go around the front mound of ice and slip right into the spot in front.  The car just about cleared the mound and was able to get into that spot.  Much appreciation was expressed to Pierre who demurred, “If you can’t help each other out, then what’s the point?” There is no doorman in your building, Pierre, and we don’t know your last name.  BUT we really want to say THANK YOU!  And who said New Yorkers aren’t friendly?