At 7pm on Saturday night, while you were probably lamenting the hot weather and how speedily the weekend was passing by, our weekend was just starting. We were boarding a free bus bound for Ikea in Elizabeth New Jersey, then getting stuck in a traffic jam in a tunnel under the East River. (Think Sylvester Stalone in the movie Daylight.)
This Ikea was just like its Australian (and German) variants, so after a bit of a wander and a snack in their restaurant we went in search of the nearby Jersey Gardens mall. It’s rumoured to be the biggest mall in New Jersey and boasts 200 outlet stores.
That’s right folks, Nike, Nautica, Ralph Lauren Polo, Quicksilver, Footlocker, Tommy Hilfiger, Saks 5th Avenue… all at discount prices. Despite the temptation we curbed our spending efforts at a Gap outfit for G and caught the bus back to Manhattan. By the time we got home, our long and dreary day had taken it’s toll, so we hit the sack not long after dinner.
Dispite our intentions for an early start on Sunday, we again slept in (well, it was cold, dark and wet outside!) and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast. Our main agenda for the day was to head into the Times Square area to shop for various goods. Unfortunately, our day was mainly unsuccessful – though we did manage to find our “local” KMart store, which I’ve been in search of for some time now. Gerrod was also delighted to walk past Madison Square Gardens for the first time.
The highlight of the day came when a guy stopped Gerrod in the street and asked for some spare change. Reluctant to flip out his wallet in public, Gerrod gave him all the change in his pocket (maybe 50c, he tells me) – to which the man graciously replied, “what, you haven’t got 4 quarters? Not even a single?” (Note for travellers: A “single” = a 1 dollar bill). Clearly nobody has told this guy the old adage… beggars can’t be choosers.
. But I’m wondering why you still need a scanner? I have downloaded a great scanner app for my phone so I just take...
7 comments
Is the clock in the corner telling us something we don’t know about time formats in the US?<br>(ps the 4th field which is normally the last two digits of the year…or is it the second and third digits in which case it is perfectly correct)
Hi Dad -<br><br>Try pressing Ctrl-R (or Ctrl-F5). I discovered that Firefox and Internet Explorer report the date differently. When you ask for the year, Firefox says "105", and IE says "2005". So my first version of the script was wrong, and I suspect that’s the one that is cached on your machine. If you refresh your cache (Ctrl-R or Ctrl-F5), it should say something like:<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Tue 11 Jan 05 | 09:13:38<br><br>(Of course it will depend what the actual time is…)
Some friends think that if those asking for change tell the truth about why they need it – like for drugs or whatever, they’ll give them some change.<br><br>But working in the Homelessness Division at the Manchester City Council I’ve learnt from those working with beggers and rough sleepers that by giving them money it perpetuates their situation…
Nice tip Mel… from now on if someone asks me for money, I’m going to say, "NO! Mel says, NO!"<br><br>I wonder if the same applies to handing out money at the grocery store…
I just tried it at the grocery store. I have a black eye now. <br>Good advice Gerrod
at least no one tried throwing you a baby like they do in rome.. to flease your pockets.
You should have just asked for your money back then if he wasn’t happy with the donation!