just back from an evening at famed old irish pub mcsorley's, where the bartender actually had an irish accent and kept bringing us round after round of just two varieties of beer: "light" and "dark." when i showed up everyone was already drinking a round, so i asked for a beer, and he said (in a thick irish brogue) "you want another round?" and i said "no ... just one for me," which he responded with "well you're gonna have to wait for the next round, this isn't a coffee shop y'know." ouch! it was ian's birthday, so lots of new jersey kids, including a slightly tipsy raza. then an exciting late-night hot dog at gray's papaya.
it was late and i knew the express stopped running, so i caught a cab home. the ugandan taxi driver turned out to be one of the best conversations i've had in a long time, and we talked the whole long ride about african politics, the war in uganda (he's from the east, war is north), bush & his trip to africa, nelson mandela, desmond tutu & the truth and justice comission, tiger woods, other taxi drivers & their drug habits, the world bank & the IMF, undercover cops, apartheid, mixed-race issues, the difference between west and east africans (i'm told west africans are a lot more aggressive and shady), how white people run the world, the war in uganda, zimbabwe, kofi annan and his swedish wife, the rockefeller drug laws, the argentinian economy, and a whole bunch of other topics. it was perfect new yorkness. whoo
Posted by cce at July 18, 2003 02:02 AM | TrackBack