Feelin’ Loony

Full moon picnic on the Queensboro Bridge tonight. Meeting at 60th Street pedestrian access between 1st and 2nd Avenues at 8.30. Bring own drinks and snacks. Hope you can make it! Cheers, Robyn

This most enticing email popped into my inbox on Tuesday mid-morning. Robyn is my friend from Australia, who is living on the UWS for a several months as she works as a freelance editor. She is filling her time in the US with many different NYC (and other once-in-a-lifetime type) experiences. In addition to moonlight meals on historic bridges, she was my teammate during the Green Mountain Relay (in Van 2).

For those of you who have run over this bridge, you know there is no real place to lay a blanket down, sit and lounge peacefully with wine and cheese. You also know the roar of the traffic and cloud of dusty smog is going to detract from any relaxing chit chat in which you’d hope to engage. And as  new Yorker, you know how we are–how we roll our eyes at anything that gives off even the slightest whiff of tourist-fun.

Nevertheless, it was impossible for me to resist Robyn’s invitation, simply because it was my bridge upon which this wacky meal would be staged. I accepted on impulse.

I was there, a teensy bit late but toting plastic bags of cheese, crackers, beer and sliced pineapple. The four of us trudged up the footpath, Tamar and I reminiscing about when we’d raced over it in the marathon, and Robyn anticipating her return this fall to complete the 26.2 mile course herself. Obviously there aren’t any bump-outs or niches where we could settle, so we just had to find a suitable view and acknowledge we would be blocking foot and bike traffic. At first, I felt completely self-conscious, but soon enough I surrendered to the spirit of the endeavor and settled in to shouting to my friends above the roar of the trucks and had a good time. We laughed at ourselves, at how we all got caught up in the whimsy of the idea and hadn’t anticipated the moon rising on the opposite side of the bridge, or the street lamps glaring out any chance of a beautiful view.  This definitely ranks as one of the craziest things I’ve ever done—even though it wasn’t particularly dangerous, or edgy, or daring. But I loved that I shared it with this small group of quality people.

This is what Robyn wrote about our adventure:

Spent a couple of hours last night on the wonderful Queensboro Bridge (a.k.a. the 59th Street Bridge, for which Simon & Garfunkel wrote the “Feelin’ Groovy” song), high above the East River, having a picnic and drinking wine with Tamar, TK, SN, and Holly. We set up our picnic rug and platters mid-way between Manhattan and Roosevelt Island, looking north; the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges were visible to the south. We toasted the city, and waved to people passing overhead in the tram that crosses to and from RI. We offered nuts and crisps to passing runners, one of whom stopped on his return leg across the bridge, accepted some grapes and pineapple, and promptly hit on TK, asking her if she was on Facebook! [I’m not.--PF] Others using the pedestrian pathway were cyclists, walkers and inline skaters; we were the only full-on picnickers. The bridge is part of the NYC Marathon route, so I’ll be back there in November. We couldn’t see the full moon, but it could be said we were a little loony.

A little loony, indeed.