Only in New York, Mermaid Parade Edition

Despite yesterday’s rain in other parts of the city and metro area, the Mermaid Parade was a success. It drizzled a bit once or twice, but for the most part, the bark of the sky was much worse than its bite. Craberet was a bit diminished, as four out of nine of its “acts,” dropped out due to weather or family issues, but as can be seen above, the remaining troop still had fun. I was pleasantly surprised by how many marchers and watchers came despite the threat of thunderstorms and torrential downpours. (The only disappointment was that several of the crab legs fell off my costume before we even arrived at the parade.) Next year, my friend H. will not miss it due to attending her brother’s shotgun wedding in Chicago, and hopefully the weather will be more agreeable as well.

Since we had a lot of stuff with us as well as recorded music, Husband and I purchased a red Radio Flyer wagon to drag our stuff on during the parade. We were not sure where we would store it when we got home, as it was rather bulky and we have limited storage space. When we arrived at our stop on the subway, we decided to take the elevator up due to the wagon. An older couple and their daughter, who was about our age, joined us. The daughter turned to us suddenly and asked where we had bought the wagon, as she was looking for one for her friends’ kids. I told her that we got it at Toys R Us. After a moment of hesitation, I then blurted out, “Do you want it? It was 40 bucks, but we’ll give it to you for 20.” She was eager to buy it off us and insisted we take the full $40.

Only in New York would a random stranger buy a slightly used red wagon from a woman with a crab costume in the elevator of the subway.