Today was not the first time I’ve accidentally ended up in Spanish Harlem. Today it was because of a pair of shoes.

I ordered a pair of shoes on Payless.com a while ago and had them shipped to a local (so I thought) Payless store to save myself the $5 shipping cost. Naturally they arrive and I go to the local Payless and they don’t have them. I’d also forgotten my receipt. So I went home, got the receipt, and on the way back I realized the address of the Payless was in the 1800s. At E. 87^th St. it’s the 1600s. The numbers count up, south to north. Which meant the Payless to which my shoes had been delivered was uptown, not at E. 85^th & 3^rd. So I pulled out The Trusty Not For Tourists Guide and consulted: sure enough, 105^th St. Spanish Harlem.

Sigh, I think. Can I take the subway there? Then I think, No, for $4, that’s like the cost of shipping. So I walk. Up and back. (I’d forgotten to put on antiperspirant; boy do I hate sweating.) I was catcalled at three times (well, the first one was on E. 87^th, so that one doesn’t count) and I made it there, collected the shoes, and came home.

The moment I got home, though, I wondered: should I have ordered the red and not the brown? Damn, did I just go through all of that and now I’m having a change of mind?

Later: Yes. I went and exchanged them for red. (Tee hee.)

Wow. What I do for shoes. And bargains.