I set off for my appointment at the Congresswoman’s field office at midday. People are generally very friendly with directions, though I find the subway quite frightening and a lot less easy to use than the London underground. I emerged downtown, 23rd Street, right in the throng of it, and wondered which direction to take. A friendly janitor helped me. I walked to the appointment and found a huge queue of people (savour that, for soon I shall be saying line, not queue) standing to buy food at Grammercy Park; on my way back, I thought of buying whatever they were selling, but found the line was even longer, at least 100 people thick. As I walked on, I overheard a girl say enthusiastically to her pall, ‘the line’s not bad today’. As far as I could tell, they were selling burgers. Were they served with a gold slice in place of cheese, I wondered?
The Congresswoman’s office looked fairly similar to Bridget’s in Islington. That’s to say it was full of youngsters and the odd older activist, littered with posters and papers, messy. It was, however, about five times the size of Bridget’s office. I met with Michael and interviewed with him right in the middle of the room. He talked so fast, I was grateful to be a native English speaker, but even then I didn’t catch it all. I stayed on to do some data entry. Fairly standard and pretty boring, but it was interesting to see the office. I told Michael I was interested in canvassing.
Afterwards, I wondered around looking for some lunch, but found nothing good. So, I headed for Columbia and there I found a great Cantonese canteen. I felt a little nervous about Columbia, but not too much. Realising I had nothing to eat at home, I left half my curry and asked them to pack it up for me. How American.
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