Memories
What a wonderful description of some of the lesser known islands of the 5 boroughs. Many good memories almost overwhelmed me as I read it. Thanks.
As you say, Roosevelt Island is the one with the suspended (cable car) tramway and a most unusual and wonderful spot.
High School football games and track meets used to be held at the Randle's Island stadium. Perhaps they still are. I ran there myself. The New York Relays, the biggest HS meet of the season was held there. It was fun and thrilling for a High School kid. Concerts were (are?) held there too.
Bad idea
While clam rakes are easier, and gloves certainly appropriate, feet and hands may be used as an alternative method. I feel that galoshes or gloves interfere with the tactile acuity that is needed for optimal claming success. There is no real danger of getting bitten, (shelled?) during the process. But I was reminded of the following as I was reading your post. When my older brother was 16 he had a bad experience with a clam. There was a bucket of live calms (quahogs in New England) in the summer rental house’s ‘fridge. They open up some when in a cold environment. While the rest of the family was at the beach, he, for some unexplained reason, (playing chicken of the sea?) stuck his finger between a clam’s shells and was caught in the cold and clammy vise grip of one of the larger ones. Every time he tried to get his finger out, it clamped down harder. When we got back an hour or so later, he was almost in tears. He was and is very tough, so we knew that it was very painful for him. Knives, ice water, hot water and pliers were useless. Our Dad resorted to a baseball bat to smash the thing off Joe’s squished finger. Gee, I said good memories didn’t I? Well he used to rough me up a bit back then and there was no permanent damage to his finger, although his ego suffered some. I’ve always liked clams.
