Tag: #UWS

  • Caught in the Rain

    Man, that was a lot of rain last night. On the UWS, it started around 5pm, and I got caught out in it. I was coming back from a doctor’s appointment, and thought I could out run it. Not so much. Even a ride on the 1 train to get back to Harlem didn’t help, as the rain came down in waves. It would let up, and then come down even harder.

    There is something very humbling with being caught out in a downpour in New York. When a hard rain hits, you can watch as people going running inside, or to the subway, or hopping in cabs or on a bus. Then there are the people who hide out in doorways. Everyone waiting out the rain. You do see people running down the street with an umbrella or a rain coat, because people do have places to be.

    But the saddest of all are the people who are just walking; no rain coat, no umbrella. Just walking like normal, as if it’s not raining. Showing all the signs that they weren’t expecting to get caught out in it, but now that they are, they have accepted the situation.

    Everyone, at one time or other, gets caught in the rain. It’s like a right of passage. It happened to me the first week after I moved to New York. I learned my lesson though. I check the weather and carry an umbrella.

  • Walking NYC Again

    My daughter’s birthday is coming up, and the wife and I have been taking turns shopping for the event. The wife was able to get all of her purchases taken care of in, and around the neighborhood. My big errand for the birthday shopping was to go get some books. Luckily, there is a great children’s bookstore in Manhattan, Books of Wonder, and I headed out for the Upper West Side location.

    Now, I could have taken some sort of mass transit there, but I am still a little hesitant, and also, I could use the exercise of a good walk. So on Saturday, I head out on foot. It was a nice winter day for a walk; not too cold, but cold enough to be bundled up.

    For the past ten months, I have rarely gone any further north than 145th Street, a never below 93rd Street, so to head down into the 80’s was like going to a new foreign land. The thing I noticed first was the amount of people, who were younger than me, all crammed around tables on the sidewalks for brunch. I know that the restaurants need the business, but the lack of masks, and close proximity didn’t seem very safe or wise. I don’t know what the answer is here, but there just needs to be a better balance out there.

    But, as I walked on, down Columbus, and then over to Amsterdam, I began to enjoy being out in the City. Hearing people’s conversations on the street, and the movement and action of coming and going. I know it was only like 50% of NYC, but it was a friendly reminder that this was once a city that I wanted to be in and explore. It was nice to see people, even from a safe six-foot distance.