When I was 19 years old, for some reason on Sundays I always ended up right here on these very benches in Central Park.
Go.
Explore.
If we are hungry later, there is always
The Oak Room. This is a Landmark restaurant, and in The Plaza as well.A very funny thing happened to me while I was dining there one evening. There are people who are regulars for many years , these people actually have plaques on the walls by the tables that they would normally sit at. The people at the table next to me went out of their way to let me know, which was alright with me .
Well, this place can be seen as and feel very stuffy. Rent the movie 'AUTHUR ' ( with Dudley Moore ) , it there is a very famous and funny scene filmed in The Oak Room.
At any rate, I ordered Banana's Foster for dessert, and my waiter accidentally ignited a huge white cotton candy head of hair. Needless to say, it was one of the regulars, with the plaque on the wall. She looked a bit like ' Baby Jane ' ( as in Baby Jane the movie with Betty Davis ), try and visualize ..... This woman was having a ladies night out ( all four were Baby Jane types- if that is possible) with three other woman.
Once her hair caught fire, no one seemed to notice but me . Initially I was freaking out mildly, her friends were unaware, the waiter continued talking to them and to my party as well like nothing at all was out of the ordinary. And all during this time , there was a tiny trail of smoke streaming straight up from the center of her head.
I was speechless. I couldn't speak, mainly because I was about to burst out laughing.
You know, some of us laugh out of nervousness, and some of us laugh because something is hilarious. I was laughing for both reasons.
I could not believe it, still, no one had noticed. Finally after thinking I was in some sort of weird comedic dream, I signaled to the waiter while making all kinds of hand movements , and pointing to the flame on her head.
He looked at her, then at me with his eyes wide as saucers, and he looked back again at me and smiled, giggled, and then he burst out laughing.
Well, that is all it took, and I completely lost control and had to leave the room to regain my composure.
I ran over here , when I had lost control of myself completely. With tears streaming down my cheeks, I stood here in the bar. It was behind a decorative screen that was hiding an extra coffee station between the bar and The Oak Room, that I stood watching the waiter , the woman and what happened next.
At this point every one of the staff had to leave the restaurant floor and they were hiding and giggling behind this screen as well, even the old professional waiters, the falsely stuffy with fake French accent kind.
It all turned out fine. The flaming cotton candy hair was in the end, only a wig.
She simply snatched it off her head ( which might explain why she felt nothing ) revealing her wrapped head prepared for the wig.
This all made for quite a fond memory, of another lovely Adventure in Design.
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Renee Finberg 'TELLS ALL' in her blog of her Adventures in Design 
Renee Finberg 'TELLS ALL' in her Blog of her Adventures in Design, Boca Raton and Rockport and Camden Maine, All Interior Design Services, The Nomad Hotel, Home away from Home,The Nomad Hotel, Home away from Home,The Nomad Hotel, Home away from Home, NYC, NYC
