Today was not the first time I’ve accidentally ended up in Spanish Harlem. Today it was because of a pair of shoes.
I ordered a pair of shoes on Payless.com a while ago and had them shipped to a local (so I thought) Payless store to save myself the $5 shipping cost. Naturally they arrive and I go to the local Payless and they don’t have them. I’d also forgotten my receipt. So I went home, got the receipt, and on the way back I realized the address of the Payless was in the 1800s. At E. 87th St. it’s the 1600s. The numbers count up, south to north. Which meant the Payless to which my shoes had been delivered was uptown, not at E. 85th & 3rd. So I pulled out The Trusty Not For Tourists Guide and consulted: sure enough, 105th St. Spanish Harlem.
Sigh, I think. Can I take the subway there? Then I think, No, for $4, that’s like the cost of shipping. So I walk. Up and back. (I’d forgotten to put on antiperspirant; boy do I hate sweating.) I was catcalled at three times (well, the first one was on E. 87th, so that one doesn’t count) and I made it there, collected the shoes, and came home.
The moment I got home, though, I wondered: should I have ordered the red and not the brown? Damn, did I just go through all of that and now I’m having a change of mind?
Later: Yes. I went and exchanged them for red. (Tee hee.)
Wow. What I do for shoes. And bargains.
