My First Day of Christmas

Date: 2 December 2010
Day of Chronicles: 19
Hours: 4:45-7:30pm
Rides Given: 4

I spent the first part of today's session regaining confidence in my ability to drive safely. After giving my first couple rides, and making contact with nary an object besides the road, I felt fine about that.

The Christmas season is upon us! The tree lighting at Rockefeller Center happened on Tuesday, the police are out corraling street-crossers with caution tape at 6th Avenue in the high 40s/low 50s, some stretches of bike lane have been appropriated by pine-pushers - and Midtown is indeed busier than it has been. At least, this evening, I found it to be so between about 4:45 and 6:30. That's when I got all my rides. And I only had to solicit one set of passengers - the other three approached me! After 6:30, however, I scared up not a single fare, in two circuits of 6th & 7th Avenues. And I was very very hungry. So I decided to head home.

Now that I've turned off the WiFi-search function on my iPhone, it's become a hell of a lot more useful for finding locations my passengers need to get to. Google maps is now quick enough that I can type in a destination such as "disney store" or "sardi's," and get a pin dropped, at a red light. Today I even managed to confirm the location of the theatre where Chicago was playing, by iPhone. First I typed in "chicago" - and was told that "Walking directions could not be found between those two locations." Then I typed in "chicago musical" and voila! There it was! 49th between 8th and Broadway. In this case my passengers had already given me this information, but I was agonizing over whether to drop them at the corner of 49th and 8th or go up to 50th and then back down Broadway so I could drop them right in front of the theatre. Since Google maps indicated the theatre was none too close to 8th, I chose to go up and around. The advantage to me of going right up to the theatre is that now I'll be sure to remember precisely where it is and how to get there.

Speaking of knowing where things are: This evening I picked up two ladies, on 6th Avenue in the high 30s. One of them said they were going to 44th Street. "44th and 6th?" I asked. "Actually," she said, "we're going to Sardi's." Since I had taken a passenger there once before, I was able to say, with confidence, "That's a bit farther over. I can get you there." And I could! And I did! And when we arrived she told me that they hadn't been able to find a taxi driver who knew where they were going! So my slow but steady gathering of knowledge of New York night spots is paying off. May it swell with the season.

P+Y+T+U