Air Mail

E.W. reminded me of an article in the NYTimes, "Bowling Ball From 17th Floor Narrowly Misses 3 Officers." The first year I lived in New York, I spent two months living on the upper west side in a hotel with weekly rates. It was advertised as "European style living," which meant that the shared bathroom was down the hall. A friend had lived there her first few months in the city and assured me that while it was run down, the place was clean. I paid one week in cash and moved my few belongings in.

The first night I woke with something tickling my arm. I brushed it off and turned on the lights. The room was crawling with roaches. I moved the bed to the center of the room and slept from then on with the lights on. The next morning the lobby attendant gave me a bug bomb and told me to stay out of the room for at least 8 hours after setting it off.

That weekend, as I was walking along Broadway, I heard a commotion ahead of me. It was early in the morning but I could hear a few voices and the shattering of glass. As I came closer I saw bottles flying through the air, smashing on the street. A figure was screaming from a sixth floor window. Occasionally his head would disappear and then a bottle would fly out from the darkness of the room. I can't remember police being on the scene, but soon the figure was either restrained or he ran out of bottles.

From the article: "The practice of throwing things at police officers from rooftops and other high places is somewhat common in New York, enough so that the targets have a name for it. They call it airmail." Posted by eku at March 30, 2004 11:29 AM