Speaking of phobias

A "suspicious" package was detonated outside the offices of Wunderman/ Y&R in midtown Manhattan (Madison and 40th, if you must know). I arrived at work around 9:45am and the whole block was sealed off with yellow police tape. After a few minutes, they expanded the sealed off zone all the way up to 40th street. Bomb squad guy showed up, dressed in his 1950s spaceman suit and proceeded to examine the "bag full of wires", as described by the police.

He looked at it, he circled it, he kneeled in front of it (to get a better look, not to pray), he walked away, he came back. It took forever. Not that he's on a deadline or anything like that...I mean, do you think your boss gives you a hard time if you're bomb squad guy? That, and other inane thoughts crossed by (pea-sized) brain: I wonder if he gets paid by the minute; I'd hate to be his dry-cleaner; how does one wind up becoming bomb squad guy? How much vacation does he get? Does he pay for his antacids himself or is he reimbursed by work? Does he bring his kids into the office and if so, does he allow them to play with the bomb-handling robot?

Eventually, and long after I'd gone home, they made the decision to detonate it. I'm informed they didn't tell people they were going to blow it up and that it sounded pretty loud.

Never boring here in New York.