Lawless

  I have never been arrested.  But there is something about New York City that brings out my lawless side. 

  Ok, so we are at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  We found a good spot on 70th Street and Central Park West, but I had the idea that if we went down to Columbus Circle we would have a better view of the floats, marching bands, and balloons since the area has much more open space than the streets leading onto Central Park West. Boy, was I wrong.  The place was packed and metal street barricades kept the crowds contained.  Our merry band consisted of Jordan, Cameron, Jeff and myself.  Jordan saw a break in the barriers and broke out across the street, the rest of us followed and we squeezed through an open barrier onto the premises of the Trump Residential Towers (dream views of the parade going along Central Park West).  As the rest of my family hurried into the crowd to secure a new spot I felt a firm hand on my elbow.  "Excuse me, but what are you doing in this area?" It was one of NYC's finest.  I explained that I was just vying for a better view of the parade.  Several lies sprung to mind, but the facts were obvious to I just fessed up to them.  "Who was with you?" he asked in a a serious manner. Again, my mind raced.  Should I throw my family to the wolves and have them hunted down in the crowd for tresspassing?  I just said, "I was with my daughter."    At that  very moment Jordan returned to my side.  I don't really know if she was just looking for me or if she saw that the law was interrigating me so she came to my aid.  He then asked who else was with us.  We stood united and said the we were alone. Jeff and Cameron had safely blended into the crowd and were already enjoying the unobstructed view of the parade. He then proceeded to explain that we were on private property and only Trump Residential Tower residents and employees were allowed in this area, and that we could receive a heavty fine if we did not leave immediately.  Needless to say we tripped over ourselves explaining that we had no idea that it was private property and had certainly never meant to break the law. 

 I have lived here since June and this is my second lawless attempt at getting in on the up close and personal action the city has to offer.  In September we were offered four tickets to the Black Eyed Peas FREE concert in Cerntral Park.  Three tickets worked, but the fourth (mine) did not register.  Jeff asked the ticket taker what would happen if I just went through the gate. He rattled off a list of trespassing laws that I would be breaking. Brazenly I took my lawless life in my own hands and walked through the gate to the sounds of of the Black Eyed Peas singing "Tonights the Night..."  So in keeping with my earlier trespasses I had made  break for the Shangrala of parade viewing. spots..  Unfortunately in this case I was booted out, but you can't say I didn't go for it. We actually ended up two blocks up the street on 62nd Street and got an insanely good view of the parade and ended our morning with shouts and waves to Santa Claus as he passed by!

  Monday night is the Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center. Massive crowds are expceted.  Hmmm...how can we get close enough to see Justin Bieber sing?  Details on Tuesday!