Winter in the Park

Days can (and do) go by in a wickedly fast fashion, and with the holiday season looming ever viciously and marvelously over me (and many others, if the maddening rush at the stores today is any indication), there may be even less time to relax and meditate on oneself.  Over the past few days, though, I have both the quiet euphoria and the deep sadness associated with the holiday time, a kind of post-holiday depression which is actually pre- and during the holiday, but that is more to do with my own character than anything else. For this reason and that reason, I have been unable to make much progress on the Guermantes Way, which hopefully I will finish strolling along soon enough to be flung into Sodom and Gomorrah (or, by its more poetic name, Cities on the Plain, but which does not reflect the original title).

Infinite digressions aside, today I dropped by an indoor park in my next door neighborhood of nolita (pretty much my number one roaming grounds these days, second only to my Madison Avenue adventures).  An indoor park- fake foliage, gigantic wall sized photographic prints of the park/outdoors, park benches, artificial grass, free coffee (at least today, when I was there- although with the heat, it should have been ice cold lemonade to support the summertime idea!).  Best of all, there were no bums, no rats, no low-life elements, no teenagers, no kids (except one or two, but who were well behaved), no smokers (although I realize smoking is now banned in parks), no music, no trendy bicyclists, no joggers, no garbage on the floor, no street musicians, nobody talking on their phone, no sound of cars honking in the distance, no view of gaudy apartment buildings...indeed, many things not there which I did not think of at the time, but which really make me dislike the park atmosphere in general (at least when I am in New York City)

A pleasant time indeed.  I'll probably go back again, although next time I fully intend to win the bean bag toss game which I lost 2-1 at today.  I promise.