UWS Encounters: Superhuman Strength, Alfred Molina’s Favorite Tea, and Meowing on the Bus

“Get Out of the Way”

Mom visited last week from Ohio. I rented a four-wheeled electric scooter for her. She’s 84, but still drives a car. I figured handling this rig would be no big deal.

We headed to Bergdorf’s…by bus. No problem driving onto the bus, but making the three-point turn to move the scooter into place proved difficult. After a few minutes of trying (it felt like hours), fellow passengers demanded the back door be opened and exited to walk. The line to get on the bus grew exponentially. Then, the man behind us, using a walker of his own, hollered “get out of the way,” threw his walker to the floor, and with the strength of a 25-year-old, picked up the scooter and moved it into place. The passengers remaining were all smiles. The man blessed us and moved on with his day.

— Jane Podolsky

“English Breakfast or Irish Breakfast?”

A couple of years ago, food shopping with my husband at Whole Foods on West 97th: We were temporarily renting an apartment in the building, while awaiting completion of rehabilitation from catastrophic water damage in our co-op. We were standing in front of the tea section, gazing at the vast selection and feeling lost and out-of-sorts. I mumbled to myself, “Irish breakfast or English breakfast?” And from our left, Alfred Molina, that great English actor, heard me and handed me a package of PG English Breakfast tea bags and said “These are the best English breakfast tea bags, we use them at home too!” I absolutely adore Alfred Molina, and I smiled very wide (my husband said I looked like a starstruck teenager) and said, “Thank you! We will take your word for it!” He wished us a good day and walked away.

— Johanna Blakely

“Meow”

I was riding the M104 down Broadway at 6pm with a very tired toddler who was demanding cookies. And of course I had no cookies. Nothing I tried would distract her and her cries and demands were starting to escalate much to the kind chagrin of everyone else on the crowded bus. At the next stop an elderly man got on, stooped over and pushing his walker. He sat down not far from us and upon hearing her cries, looked up and promptly started to “meow” like a cat. Stunned, my toddler immediately stopped crying. And began laughing. And then meowing. Which lasted until the next stop where we got off without another tear and a big thank you for the kindness of strangers.

— Caroline Seklir

UWS Encounters is a weekly column written by WSR readers. Send your stories of interesting interactions on the Upper West Side to westsiderag.com — no more than 150 words, real names required. if we publish your work, you’ll get a byline and a West Side Rag mug. You’ll be the envy of the neighborhood!

By the way, we’ve yet to receive a story from a male reader. Who will be first?