I tripped on the top step at work about a month ago, twisting and fracturing my foot. At the moment of the fall, the worst part was not the pain, but the frustration that came with dropping the platter of doughnuts I was carrying up for my coworkers. Since then, I’ve taken a very tumultuous journey through the wonderful ways of our health care system, and some colorful trips in alternative methods of transportation.
Beware of flying doughnuts.
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Living in New York City is a marathon, even when you have all your limbs. Subtract a foot, and you begin to realize just how reliant you are on it. In suburbia, I could hop in my SUV that resides in my connected garage, and let it power me to wherever I was heading. Here, this is an option for only the very VERY rich. For us normal people, we use public transportation (Many of my friends don’t even have a driver’s license). In the city proper, the network of options includes subways, buses, ferries, taxis, pedicabs, horses….the list goes on. It is the rare neighborhood that you have to walk more than 5 blocks to find something to take you somewhere.
Pedicabs will cost you an arm AND a leg
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Our options are not as varied in Brooklyn. I have lived in my apartment for 4 years, and still have 90 people in front of me on the list for a parking spot. We have the subway (stops are few and far between depending on your neighborhood), buses (which are irregular and slow), the infrequent taxi (that pretends not to see you in the rush to return to the city) and black cars. The car service system is one that I have come to rely on heavily over the past month.
The oft asked question “Is the G running today?”
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I live in an up-and-coming (but everywhere here is up-and-coming) part of Brooklyn called Clinton Hill . From my house, I have a 5 block walk to the G train (notorious for being the worst line in NY), a 20 minute walk to the major transport hub Atlantic Terminal, and a 10 block walk to the bus to and from work on my daily commute. I remember when two friends from the Caribbean came to stay with me for a week, rebelling against all the walking by staging a not-so-silent coup en-route to dinner one night, shouting “This Is Not Close!”.
This is not CLOSE!
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Doing all this with a broken foot is not an option. My first pill to swallow: I had to ask for help. I am an extraordinarily independent person, who would rather starve than deprive someone of their bite. I have found myself having to rely on others in a way that I never have before, and this is a challenge much more difficult than the healing of some silly bones.
I’m practically English
Cartoon courtesy of yummy–english.blogspot.com
Second major hurdle: I hate spending money unnecessarily (we write a blog about financial responsibility, after all). Calling for a car is like shopping in an Egyptian souq; you call and get a quote, which will be completely different from another company’s quote or from what your driver will actually charge you. On average, a car to my work costs $17 with tip, ONE WAY. This is $680 a month just to go to work, not including doctor’s appointments or any other necessary excursions. I luckily have a wonderful co-worker who has taken to driving me to work whenever she can, but of course I have to call cars to fill in the gaps.
Gas Money
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I have met Evelyn, a Colombian driver who excitedly told me that I was her first customer after returning from her root canal, but “Don’t worry, I didn’t take the pain medicine”. She advised me that my husband better be “treating me like his baby”, blessing him over and over when I revealed that he had been cooking all my dinners. Driver Eduardo’s young sons were coming to visit from El Salvador next week, and he would love to bring them to the zoo where I work. One driver from Ghana gave me a full rundown of black car politics, recruiting new drivers to his company through the window at each traffic light.
You called for a car?
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Each driver had come from a different country than the last, and every single driver seems to enjoy what they do. When I hop (literally) into a new car, I can only speculate about the adventure that is to follow. If there is one good thing about falling up the stairs, it is that I am being offered insight into a new world right in my own backyard.
Your friendly driver.
Photo courtesy of pirmarygames.com
We are hoping to rent a car to get out of town for the day. Because of the heat wave, the only available cars are over $100 for a few hours, and to be picked up in New Jersey. We’ve spent most of the day looking at buying a house in the country instead.
But how would I get there?
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