I spent yesterday evening catching up with the “Netflix” series “Wednesday”. This was partly in order to ensure I maintain a positive relationship with my older niece. I also watched two episodes of “Squid Game”, as the children in my school have advised me to. All of these televisual feasts I very much enjoyed.
When I am attempting relaxation “mode”, I put my ‘phone to one side to be ignored. At the end of an episode, I checked it and had a missed call, and multiple messages from Gary. This was because there had been an active shooter uptown and he was checking I was not in the area. Thankfully, my brother in law Ali could see on “Life 360” that I was in the East Village and was able to reassure that I was likely to be alright. As soon as I saw the messages, I confirmed that this was the case.
As I watched the news conference with mayor Eric Adams, I was very much faced with the sobering dark side of this city, and this country. Five people had died in the incident, including a member of the New York Police Department. One of the others was the perpetrator who had shot himself. There was a sixth person who was in a “critical” condition in hospital.
I have walked past this area multiple times. I would not presume to say that I am lucky as that sounds extremely glib, and self-serving in such an awful situation. It does however illustrate a big difference between this country, and my own. Here they talk about “another” incident. At home, this would be essentially unheard of.
Immigrants are discussed regularly on both sides of “the pond”. The NYPD officer who died was Didarul Islam, an immigrant. He came to New York from
Bangladesh, most likely for the same reason that so many have for so many years; for a better life. He loved this city to the extent that he worked to protect it, and the people in it. The mayor described him as a “True Blue New Yorker”. I felt sad to have been in the city to see this.
The following morning I took breakfast at “Kona Coffee Roasters”, a few blocks downtown from where I am staying. I ordered the “breakfast sammie” with some trepidation as I was not in the mood for a volume of food to sink a killer whale. Thankfully, this was a reasonable breakfast-sized roll portion with egg, sausage, cheese, and a spicy mayonnaise. I noted that what we would called “square sausage” in Scotland has a close relative here.
I walked south through Chinatown to Battery Park. Here I spent some time “chilling” on a very comfy bench-chair and watched the tourists getting on, and off the ferry to Liberty, and Ellis Islands.
I took an unusual route back to the apartment as I was in no hurry. It was the “1”, “L”, and “6” that were my route.
Back in the East Village I was struggling with the heat, so opted to swim. As luck would have it, there is a rather nice open air pool nearly: “Hamilton Fish Pool”. The pre-requisite for entry is a combination padlock, and some form of swimwear. The latter I already had. The former I purchased at a local hardware store. It was pricey, but such an item could come in handy in the future. Suitably armed, I headed to Houston Street.
Walking from the lockers to the pool was a significant challenge as the concrete was extremely hot and I only had bare feet. Feeling like “Guybrush” from the computer game “The Curse of Monkey Island”, after dancing across I plunged in the pool. It was incredibly refreshing.
My usual daily swim at home is 52 lengths. This is of the pool in Kirkcaldy, which is 25 metres long. The pool in New York is “Olympic Sized” (to be said in a strong Welsh Valleys accent) so I aimed for 25, and completed 30. In fact, I will have swum considerably further due to having to avoid all the other patrons, but as time was not pressing this was not an issue.
Feeling cooler, I walked back up to East 6th past Mr. Crisp’s former home in East 3rd. I enjoyed a beer. Back at the apartment, I enjoyed some cold white wine, and a deli wrap alongside some more “Wednesday”, and “Squid Game”.
I felt very happy indeed.
Relaxation rating: 8.5/10.
