A Walk Down Bay Parkway Brooklyn

This is another in "My Walk Thru" series, a project which in think would be a good model for a low tech kids' project. The Honda Element was in the body shop (again!) and I'll follow a "don't ask, don't tell" policy as to why, since the Mrs. does read this from time to time. As a result I took the F train to Bay Parkway and then the 6 Bus to 86th Street to go to the dentist. On the way back, I skipped the bus and walked from 86th to McDonald Ave to the train. It turned out to be quite an experience. First of all, there was the incredible view of Washington Cemetery (and beyond) from the elevated station. There's a lot of recent Russian "inhabitants." You can tell many of them by the picture engraved headstones. The
cemetery packed them into some least desirable spaces, near the fences. After a long wait for the 6 bus, I didn't lose my "MTA instinct" by letting the mob of people board a bus ahead of me since invariably there's another soon to follow. Sure enough, on this one I easily got a seat in the empty back section and picked up a left behind NY Post to boot. My peace was soon broken my a mob of little Jewish girls from a just dismissed Yeshiva. How cute they were, not the usual pasty face "genetically inbred" variety. They were gleefully swapping and comparing recently issued report cards and paid little notice to me as my rear seat was surrounded. With my gray beard in its fuller stage I must have looked like a Rabbi Jerry Garcia. There were a few older girls (about 11-12 or so) who were the mamas of the bunch who herded them off at around 70th Street. What a shame that these kids, and so many others from the parochial schools, are lost to the public system.
Getting to 86th street with time to spare, I checked into the OTB off the corner. It was almost entirely made up of Chinese guys, all of whom looked like recent immigrants. I wanted to see if I could place a bet on Thursday for the race on Friday, but I couldn't.. More on this to follow in a future post.