Excitement of the unwanted kind in New York City

On July 23, while having fun in Manhattan doing some shopping and just moving along with the throngs of vibrant New Yorkers and vacationing gawkers in midtown New York on 8th Ave and going towards the West streeets and close to Times Square, there was a bomb scare. A couple of blocks were yellow-taped and blocked by police. People had to take a long detour to get back on 8th Ave as the 8th was closed to all traffic and pedestrians for 2 long blocks. Below is how the New York Times online service reported the incident:

An unattended metal suitcase prompted a midday bomb scare near Times Square on Friday. Part of Eighth Avenue between West 46th and West 47th Streets was closed before the police discovered that the suitcase contained tools. The suitcase was discovered at 11:52 a.m. No evacuations of buildings were ordered. By 1:57 p.m., bomb squad investigators had determined that the suitcase was not a threat. The contents were described as “tools — it’s not explosive or dangerous.”

So.... okay, the little snippet that appeared in the cityroom blog of the New York Times made little of the incident and anybody reading it will think that some careless worker was stupid enough to leave his "suitcase" full of tools and not come back for it. I am not saying that the suitcase had a bomb.... No.... however, I suspect very much that it was deliberately kept in a strategic spot to check the response of the authorities to the incident. Whether done as a test by the law enforcement forces or by the evil ones, that I don't know. The reason I believe this incident was not as insignificant as it was made out to be was because the next day, we happened to set out in the early hours of the morning via the same street and saw close to 30 police cars and vans parked on both sides of the two blocks and in the side lanes. What would warrant that large a police force all equipped with their CSI-like vans to be in the 2 street blocks on 8th Avenue long, long after the "nothing to see here" incident?

Something to wonder about, eh?  Excitement just follows me around !!  Stick with me and you will never be bored.  I promise.