Last summer we barely had a summer. It rain much of June and the days were cool. Mother Nature is making up for that this year. We have already had two heat waves. On the days that are not scorching hot, it has been humid. So a walk down the street becomes something of a wade through the thick air and one is covered in perspiration quickly no matter how short the distance. It's been this way for weeks now.
Everything seems to be heightened in the heat. Sounds seem a little louder, nerves more easily rattled. Walking up University Place a few nights ago, the boyfriend and I became hyper-aware. This used to be normal when New York was a more dangerous place, but we haven't had to feel this way in quite a while, especially not on University Place! It was just something in the air that made out antennae prick up.
Now we're having a proper summer rainy afternoon. It's not buckets of rain being tipped into the street. Nor is it typhoon-like sideways rain and wind extravaganza. It's just a soft, gray cast and gentle rasping of water coming down. The rattling construction noises from across the street have been muted and it feels like a much needed wash of what-I'm-not-sure. It just reminds me, in light and sound, of the magical Sunday afternoon when I was very young when I discovered René Clair's AND THEN THERE WERE NONE. Just a quiet, gentle, gray moment in time.
