Saturday, May 14, 2005

Why we love New York: reason No. 83

Today on the R train, Cole Slaw Blog noticed an older man dressed in a brown, tweed, three-piece suit, a cape and a nametag reading: "Hans Christian Andersen" in capital letters.

Denmark's most famous author (1805-1875) had white hair and a white mustache. He was speaking with a lanky youth next to him. I overheard him say, in accented English that he knew many people from the youth's country. (CSB did not overhear specifically which country it was, and does not wish to guess at the thoughts of strangers, a la Alex Kuczynski.)

The two then chatted amiably for the next several minutes. Then the man fetched his cane, arranged his cape about him and exited at the Lexington Avenue stop.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is pretty awesome.

All I can think of is Seinfeld and the man in the cape. "He's very independent; doesn't follow the trends. YOU HAVE NO EYE FOR FASHION!"

Anonymous said...

Is improveverywhere recycling old gags...like their Meet Anton Chekov one?