You were probably wondering what are the four weird things that happened to Mr. Matthew R. Harding and Mr. Vincent J. Mangano, IV on June 13, 1993 when then went to New York City. These are the only two guys I know who can have four weird things happen to them on the same day, and New York is the only place where it could happen. I have now lived for more than 1,000 days in New York (okay, you dragged it out of me, I moved here in part because it's the kind of place where four weird things could happen to a person on the same day) and I've never had that much insanity go on in one day. These guys really attract weirdness.

Anyway, here are the things, in ascending order of weirdness:

1. They saw a guy get hit in the head with a brick in what they thought was a drug deal gone horribly awry in Washington Square Park.

2. Riding in a taxi, their driver suddenly realized he was going the wrong way down the street when he noticed a massive onslaught of vehicles just ahead coming the other direction. The quick-thinking driver put the car in reverse, and floored it backwards the entire length of the block, got to the intersection and, without stopping, did a 270o turn, put the car in drive, and got out of there.

3. They tried to cross Fifth Avenue for several hours, but were blocked by the Puerto Rican Day Parade. (Note: This is years before such an incident was made internationally famous by the TV show Senifeld. That actually happened!)

4. At the famous Bleecker Bob's record store in the Greenwich Village section, a bald-headed employee asked the following question, "Do you remember Chris?" A supervisor at that store began berating the employee for mentioning this guy Chris. "DON'T YOU EVER TALK ABOUT CHRIS IN HERE AGAIN!!!" he said, so loudly that all the customers filed out of the store. Mr. Harding reported that he could hear lambasting still going on as they walked to the end of the block.

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