They Have Bushy Tails and Store Nuts

One thing that I've had to become accustomed to living in New York is tourists. I certainly have not been here long enough to have adopted a condescending attitude towards them -- after all I am a tourist from time to time too. Living a block from the Theater District I have huge tourist buses from Montreal that park on my street every Sunday afternoon. Around the corner on 8th Avenue is the office for one of the cities "hop-on-and-off" bus tour services, so the sidewalks are filled with out-of-towners. And my office sits a block from Washington Square, so more than a few times I've left my office to be confronted by a person with a friendly smile, a map, and a question. I'm glad to help when I can.

Earlier this week, I was walking down Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village and a notice a gaggle of Japanese tourists on the sidewalk. Just as I was walking past them, I heard a shriek and then I saw all the cameras come out. Needless to say, my curiosity was aroused. What was it by the trees lining the street that could have caused such excitement? These people had clearly traveled thousands of miles to see wondrous things in New York City! And they had discovered ... a squirrel ..... and a very ordinary looking one at that. Bullwinkle was no where in sight. I wondered: aren't there rodents in Asia too? I was tempted to point them to Central Park, but I didn't want to send them over the edge with excitement. (Oh wait, maybe I am developing a bit of a condescending tone.)

On second thought, maybe sometimes in life you just have to appreciate the simple things.

By the way I took the picture above a few years ago when I was a tourist walking around New York City.