It was the week before Halloween and I was walking home from a date in the West Village. It was a beautiful autumn night, leaves crunched with our every step, and a full moon shown above the tree-lined Perry Street. A picture perfect New York night. I’d squealed, “Look at the moon!” the minute we stepped out of the wine bar. I always get excited when I see the moon in the sky above the skyscrapers. Call it part of my charm or add it to the list of Reasons I’m Annoying: your call.

In this case, my date’s call. Especially when only 3 minutes after my first squealed command, I squealed again, “Look!”

Jutting out of the wall of a brownstone, the iconic top of a London Police Box. It was incredibly detailed, true-to-life sized, and colored lights swirled inside the glass window panes.

“From Doctor Who! How cool is that! Oh man, what is it called again?”

My date wasn’t sure either. Up until this moment I’d been sure he was a bigger nerd than I was. “It’s a T….T-something. Taurus? Tarrrr….TARDIS! It’s a TARDIS!” How much nerd cred do I get for figuring that one out?

I imagine right now you, dear readers, fall into two paralel groups right now.
The Nerds: You are horrified I couldn’t call a TARDIS by name immediately.
The Clueless: You have no idea what any of this is about.

For the nerds: I use that term with the utmost affection. I know I suck for not being obsessed with Doctor Who. For the clueless: Doctor Who is a classic show on BBC. It’s been on for decades with a huge and avid cult following. I’ve watched a couple episodes, I never got into it. All you need to know is there’s a lot of time travel in the show and the TARDIS, this London Police Box, is a time machine.

So someone decorated the side of their beautiful West Village brownstone like a time machine from an iconic BBC show crashed into it. Basically the most highbrow, nerd-mazing Halloween decoration in the history of ever.

At the time I didn’t even realize it was a Halloween decoration. I was in the neighborhood yesterday and went back to Perry Street hoping to get a better picture in the daylight.

The time machine was gone. We can only hope the TARDIS on Perry Street appears again next Halloween!