A Mile From Manhattan

 Less than a mile, in fact, from the big city, across the George Washington Bridge (below), I saw this curious individual (above), who peeked and peered at me for a while through the bushes. I threw him a line from 'Home On The Range': "where the deer and the aaaaaaantelope play!" but he said nothing in return...

 The great bridge, seen from the Palisades, announces itself like a major chord in a mighty symphony. One pushes through the bushes and thorns, and suddenly there is a tiny step of granite, a very low fence, and then the bridge and Manhattan is there, as if you could reach out and touch them, across the Hudson River.

Meanwhile, back on the mean streets of New York, Mr. Rat (above) had his photograph cruelly printed in the New York Daily Asphalt. Had he the eloquence of that deer I saw, what sad words might he have spoken?

“Ay,” quoth Jaques,
“Sweep on, you fat and greasy citizens.
'Tis just the fashion. Wherefore do you look
Upon that poor and broken bankrupt there?”

French people were scandalized (aren't they always?) earlier in the summer by the sight of this year's most famous French man, Dominic Strauss-Kahn, photographed during a perp walk, after he was arrested, accused of raping a hotel chambermaid.

The case against DSK, as he's now known in the tabloid press, has been falling apart for weeks, and seems set to collapse -- prosecutors said they caught the chambermaid out lying repeatedly about various facts in the alleged DSK rape or sexual attack on her, also her application for asylum in the U.S.

About the perp walk: in America, and most often associated with New York City's police department, it is common for cops to  walk a famous or notorious person after their arrest past waiting T.V. and news cameras. In France, there is a law preventing such media feasting, and the image of DSK (below) outraged French public opinion, which centered around the thought that DSK would not receive a fair trial, given that  the media circus and perp walk made him appear guilty.

A dear friend of mine was very ill in hospital during the DSK arrest and offered the following amusing explanation for the whole DSK affair:

DSK calls an escort service from his hotel room, and asks for some female company. He is specific: "I want an African lady, yes please, and can she wear a chambermaid's outfit, merci. Aussi, I want her to, errr, resist me at first, a little..."
Along comes the actual chambermaid, enters DSK's room. He leaps at her, naked. She freaks out, fights back, then runs from the room. DSK thinks she is pretending to resist as requested, chases after her, etcetera. She flees.
So, he shrugs, potters around all day, has lunch with his daughter, finally boards an Air France flight to Paris from JFK, thinking: "I can't wait to tell my pals about that ridiculous American hooker chick... she didn't even wait for me to give her a tip!" Then...
"Excuse me sir, are you Dominic Strauss-Kahn of seat A1, First Class, Air France, Transatlantic City?"

Wherefore do you look?