The world order seems about right today, the last of January. It's 26F in Friendship, 21 at our place overlooking the North River, 4 in Anchorage, and 23 in Beijing. There have been a lot of below zero readings in Friendship - none in New York - and 40's in Anchorage.
There was ice in the river this morning at 8 but it's gone now as the rising tide brings sea water north. But we've had ice most of the time - except for the sloppy thaw a couple of days ago, which Bill Cunningham records in his On The Street audio photo essay with his Boston accent and chahming eccentricity.
He ridicules the men who wear dress shoes knowing they are going to confront the ponds at every corner when a day of rain melts the snow and the drains clog with ice. I did that. I put on my best winter suit and wanted my shoes to match. I couldn't find those Totes rubbers. I was just getting a bit tired of winter and didn't want to wear boots in the overheated law school all day. Besides they didn't match my suit and were stained anyway with fuel I'd spilled.
Finally the unlikely event of a water landing was the biggest maritime happening on the North River- as Sully Sullenberger brought an Airbus down off the ferry terminal just below the Intrepid and the pilots of New York Waterway promptly rescued the passengers who lined up on the wings (some of them knee deep in the brine) like Londoners in a dark moment rather than New Yorkers pressing to get on the cross-town bus in the rain.
