11th Jan 2004
Brrr York City
I was promising myself to get out a slew of tech-related blog postings this year, and veer away from “stuff I’m doing” entries. And I will work through a slight backlog of techie postings …
But hey, it’s COLD! But do I have any snowballs to toss? Ahh, now that is the question of the moment.
Here in New York City, it was 1 degree F, and then it doubled to 2. Did it feel twice as hot, twice as blamy? Did I seek frozen lemonade? Chilled salad? Gazpacho? It’s merely fun to think that on a particular scale, the temperature doubled.
And it didn’t make a damn bit of difference.
I had fun at 1, and was not blue at 2. I was out and about in my ski jacket, all bundley-wundley, scoffing and simultaneously feeling sorry for those who hadn’t figured out the bit about “dress warm or you’re going to get frostbite in the snap of your frozen fingers!”
My landlady had a water pipe burst. My fave watering hole was closed last night, having lost electricity and also suffering a burst pipe. A local plumber received 100 calls yesterday morning. It’s an epidemic.
Frozen city puddles of unwanted coffee, french poodle piss, stale beer. Precarious footing.
Now if it would only snow. I consider this to be a waste of cold air. I could be in Lake Tahoe right now, skiing along, surrounded by the fluffy white falling from menacing clouds, and it still wouldn’t be as cold as it is here!
As a Native Californian, the whole bit about the forecast saying “Sunny / 15F” throws me off. Our Left Coast brains are hardwired to think “Sunny == Above Freezing”. You know, at a certain polnt of exposure to cold, everyone else starts to look like a Penguin. Metro Waddlers.
I want Central Park covered in white. I want to watch my step on the subway stairs. If just for a few days.
“If just for a few days” … I don’t honestly expect it to work out so nicely, a frosty present wrapped in a winter bow. Gotta be careful what is wished for - we could easily get a series of storms lasting a week or more. Just to cover my butt, I say to Gotham in advance: “It’s not my fault man! I just wanted a LITTLE bit of snow!”
Post this, wrap up, venture out. Anyone judging New York by mere Spring or Fall is wimping out :-)
