Two years ago, I had a group that was supposed to leave New York on a Thursday afternoon, but because of a winter storm couldn't leave the east coast until Monday evening...from Baltimore! Listening to the weather reports, I thought that the group I led this weekend would suffer a similar fate.
But I was wrong. My thirty-three did fly home yesterday despite the winter storms and all of the other cancellations. Then again, they weren't flying south where airports are closed by an inch of snow--they were flying between JFK and Minneapolis.
The picture was taken on Sunday afternoon, before the snowfall, when they paid me one of the highest compliments a group of Minnesotans can pay a New Yorker. "We were freezing," they told me at dinner. "You looked so much warmer than we were."
I might have blushed at this--I endured a winter day better than a Minnesotan?!?!?!
But before I buy myself a trophy, here's a likely explanation: While dressing that morning, the Minnesotans thought, "This is New York, it's not nearly as cold as Minneapolis. I don't need a hat, I don't need my gloves, I'll wear my light jacket."
Meanwhile, this New Yorker, hearing the forecast, thought: "Holy crap, it's going to be cold today. Layer and bundle, layer and bundle. I'll wear long underwear, my heaviest coat, my hat, my scarf and my gloves."
Click on the photo to enlarge it and count the number of hatless heads.
One last note: Since they were a theater group, I thought I'd post an informal poll. While the shows they saw (Billy Elliot, Shrek and Fuerza Bruta) were very different, I forced them to pick a favorite.
Fuerza Bruta: 60%
Billy Elliot: 40%
Shrek: 0% (Yikes.)
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