Day 2- Part 2 – Mad Eddie

Now feeling somewhat stuffed following the uber breakfast we had to find our way to the Bronx Zoo. Having looked at a map it looked like the easiest way to get there was via the subway. In fact all of the guide books had recommended that this was how you get there – sounded nice and easy and we knew where there was a subway we could use. Things were now on a roll.

Ok so we hit the station without issue and went to speak to the nice man in the ticket booth who told us how much it would cost and what trains we would need to get there. Again we were struck by the differences. We got the metor card (just like at home) to take us on the train – but unlike home you get one and pass it back so that the other person can use it. Try that on the London Underground and you will be in some bother. Having got onto the platform we realised how different it was inside. The station was a bit bare but it was clean and had a nice mural on the wall. It just felt a bit nicer than the ones at home.

Subway adventures

I had been a bit nervous about using the subway – you always hear bad things but you are never sure whether they are all true or not. Initially it all seemed good. So we managed to get on the right train – knowing that we were going to have to change later on. Now when the man had told us what trains to get we had written it down so we could remember – however we had not remembered it quite right and we could not remember where we had to change to get the next train – things were going down hill rapidly. There is a lesson here – write it down as you are told and then it is not going to be an issue!

Anyway we looked at the books and one of the maps and kind of worked out where we needed to get off. and change, We were back on track. It was odd – as you got away from a lot of the more popular areas you could see the quality of the housing degrading and the areas changing. There was no one thing that stood out but you could just see that as you moved away from Time Square and the tourist attractions you got to see some of the real New York. By this stage we were getting some strange looks as we must have looked confused, tired and a bit bemused by everything – but there were no issues. I mean I am sure our tourist nature was screaming at people and we just did not look like we fitted in.

We got off the subway at the Bronx having seen a sign for the Zoo an stumbled into the main office with not a clue as to where to go as all the signs seemed to have vanished. We very much looked the tourists I think as we were getting some very funny looks. We were going to queue to speak to a man in the booth to ask where to go when another gentleman who was on his way down to the platform stopped and asked (in a somewhat exasperated tone) where we were trying to go – our tourist look obviously shouting to all and sundry. We told him the zoo and we walked us over to the exit and directed us where to go. I guess he thought we looked like we were likely to get ourselves into trouble with just wondering around – and we were most greatfull for the help. Who said New Yorkers were not friendly!

Mad Eddie

Getting to the zoo was a 10 minute walk from the station but it was sunny so it was a nice walk. We were chatting as we approached the main gates of the zoo and not paying all that much attention to what was going on around us, when we noticed that there was a man walking toward us from the Zoo.

Now I know this will sound stupid but here goes – We both assumed that he must have worked for the Zoo because he was coming from that direction and he was dressed in green! - Ok so this was not one of our better moments. Anyway we smiled as he came over with a “Hi folks� and we stopped to say hello. As he got closer you could see that he did not work for the Zoo – he was mostly dressed in camo and had a few missing teeth – Oh dear me!

Anyway he started chatting to use asking where we were from and introducing himself as Eddie. Eddie's dad had fought with people from Scotland in World War 2 so he chatted about that. As we chatted it turned out that all was not well with Eddie. He had lived a hard life. He had been in the military for a number of years, had been dis-honourably discharged with mental illnesses and had spent 10 years in psychiatric hospitals. He was now looking after his nephew after the death of his sister. Eddie owned at least 2 guns. He had kept a revolver, but the police had taken that one away when he had tried to kill himself when his meds stopped working.

At this point we were feeling a littler nervous as his behaviour was becoming a little more erratic as he got more upset.

He currently had a .40 Callibur semi automatic which held 15 rounds (14 in the clip and one in the barrel) and he told us that he had considered going into a Police Station and shooting it – not to kill anyone but to get the Police to shoot him, He had not done it, but he had thought about it. The whole conversation was a but odd and very surreal – I mean there is not a lot that you can say to that really. Anyway 15 minutes later the chat finished and Eddie asked if we could give him some cash – we did and then made haste to the Zoo.

To this day I am not sure if he was genuine or not and I am 100% sure that he should not have been allowed anywhere near a gun (constitutional right to bear arms or no) – but it was a very strange experience when all was said and done