New Yorking Part 3 - Lakes, Snow and Emotional Numbness

Lakes, Trees and Squirrels on an Orange Day

I may take the piss out of the Americans rather frequently, what with their silly big flags, love of more ice than water in their glasses and their use of the word 'deplane' (I told one of them that we should derestaurant the other day. They thought it was ridiculous and didn't quite get the point).  But fuck me can America do Autumn.

I think the trees have that same can-do attitude as the people

This was on a day of wandering around Central Park in the bright 2C weather.  Which was rather lovely and pleasant indeed.  But, I found myself wandering down a path, head looking up, ooo-ing at all the orange tress when I suddenly found a lake.  Not a huge lake, but significant enough to actually be a lake.  I had no idea there was a lake in Central Park.  Oops.

they can also really do skylines like a pro

 But it's also full of bobbling plastic bottles, so, yeah, that's wank.

full may be an overstatement, but, yeah

I asked this squirrel if he knew why people (dickheads) would throw their empty bottles into the lake, but he didn't know.  He just enquired if I had any spare nuts, preferably cashew (or at a stretch a pecan).

"I'm holding my hands like this so you believe I'm sophisticated"

I had a lot of fun traipsing around the park and the upper east side though, it's definitely a thing to be done in the Autumn.  The only odd thing was that almost everybody walking on the streets looked out of place, almost in a state of panic, walking dogs that were not their own as if their lives depended on it.

all of these dogs are suffering an identity crisis

I did eat a French square quiche though, so it's not all bad.

Memorials

It took me some time, but I finally plucked up the fortitude to make it to the 9/11 memorial.  Which ended up being far rougher than I thought it would be.  Not quite the five days of complete emotional numbness I suffered after visiting Auschwitz, but up there.  There was just something about walking around the pools, reading all the names, that filled me with an overwhelming feeling of grief.  It turned me into an emotional puddle and took me quite a long time to actually get all the way around both.  Knowing that so many of the people had to make a decision between burning alive and jumping out the window almost broke me in two.  The police officer walking in front of me touching names as he passed, presumably his friends who died, didn't help.

It also didn't help that people were posing for smiling selfies, v signs and all, next to the pools.  I may have muttered the odd "twatface" under my breath whilst passing them.

ps. don't disrespect the dead, you twat

But, on a brighter side, the new station there has a great "fuck you terrorists, we'll build a giant cathedral to capitalism" vibe to it and is rather nice to look at.

just a little hint of comb

Plus the new tower they built is rather sleek and tower-y.

I wonder if there's much room up there at the spiky top

Fake Belgian Wood and Clean Swedes

After the previous days chippy debacle (and with a need to push my emotions down with food) I went on a hunt for fried potatoes.  Ideally with crunch this time.  After much research I found a honest Belgian fries place.  Yes, it's not as good as a good as a chippy chip (there is such a thing as too much crunch), but I was in an existential British crisis and needed help, even Belgish help.  What I ended up in was rather faux.

it takes a lot of work to make wood look this old and shitty

I mean, it's not a terrible job, if you didn't look out of the window or too closely at anything you could believe you're in a wee cottage.  Apart from the giant air conditioner/heater on the wall that is.  But at least they tried to incorporate it into the 1530's cottage style.

authentic

Then I immediately went to a Swedish candy store.  This was such a violent change in decor that my eyeballs sizzled a little.

white is clean

But, I stuffed enough sugar in my face that I survived.

Snow

If you know me well, you'll know that I am quite the fan of all weathers.  Give me a year with four cleanly defined seasons in it and I'm a happy camper.  I'll love a bit of lakes and sunshine in the summer then love getting to put on all my hats and scarves in the winter.  Snow, especially the first snow of the year, is one of my favourites.  So when it started peppering down the other day, I went straight out into it with a look of childish glee on my oldman craggy face.

delicate little flakes of joy falling from the sky, with a light dusting sticking on the ground

It was wonderful, I even did the whole 'stick your tongue out and tilt your head back' thing to taste the snow/smog combination.  Unfortunately though, this was a New York snow storm and pleasure is not to be had.  So it went from a gentle "ahh, how nice is this!" to a "fuck you, here's a 100mph ice wind in your face bitch" in around ten minutes.  Then it proceeded to not stop for 6 hours, resulting in mass snow banks, slush pavements and many 'fuck your feet' pools (deep pools of ice water, covered in a thin veneer of snow, so you think it's solid, then it's not, by which point you're up to your ankle).

Luckily, I'd brought my mesh topped, very air-y, super light, running van shoes with me.  So I had no problems trying to walk in the snow at all and my feet were bone dry by the end of the day.  (at least, this is the lie I told myself to maintain sanity)

so much slip

By the next morning, it had pretty much all disappeared.  What was the point in that crap then eh?  Stupid weather.