Vermin Infestation

Previously I mentioned the mice I witnessed in Dylan's candy bar; well tonight, I witnessed them in mine and Susan's favorite cafe, Cafe Orlin. After dinner (Sushi) we walked down to Labortorio del Gelato, only to discover that it was closed and decided to head back uptown for bubble tea. Once I discovered that I don't like bubble tea (tastes like shampoo), we decided to get gelato instead. On the corner of St. Mark's and 1st, Susan and I had a disagreement over where Cafe Orlin is located. Susan thought it was on the block to the east, and I thought it was on the block to the west. So not trusting my memory or sense of direction (I can no longer count the number of times I've led friends on wild goose chases in the east village to bars I could have sworn were right here!), I followed to Susan to Cafe Mogador, which is eerily similar to Cafe Orlin. We stood arguing on the sidewalk, to the amusement of one of the couples having dinner outside, about whether this was a different place entirley or Cafe Orlin had changed its name and had a considerable amount of remodeling. We souned like an elderly couple up for the weekend from Palm Beach; I'm the senile husband by the way. Once we went in, I agreed that it had to be the same place. There were too many similarities for it to be a coincidence. How many cafes consisting of three combined storefronts with sidewalk seating and a bar to the right of the entrance can there be on St. Marks? Apparently two. After being told that we couldn't only have dessert, we walked to the next block to find...Cafe Orlin. Just as we left it and our table vacant. So we had our second dessert of gelato, wine and french fries. Susan agrees that eating potatos with ice cream is delicous. When we first got there, there had been a couple a few tables but they left soon after. I thought I noticed something under the table, but I figured it was a crumpled napkin. 10 minutes later, I saw a mouse running around. We were freaked out, and I'm not exactly sure how we kept our composure. Pretty soon other groups came and sat at the other tables, but we got the hell out of there as fast as we could. I don't know if it's the heat or what, but I've seeing a lot of vermin in places I don't normally. I mean I knew they were in the kitchen, but I don't want to look at them while I'm eating. Start spraying pesticide again!
I also went to the Mermaid Day Parade today, an annual celebration of Coney Island's tacky and freakish history, in which people dress up in homemade costumes and parade on the boardwalk. It's like a John Waters's movie come to life, in a word: awesome. But at the risk of this becoming a Brooklyn blog, I will write more at a later date.