Welcome Dogs & Muddy Boots

This inn is on the other side of the church steps from the Black Bull. I loved the sign on the back of the building promising that dogs and muddy boots are welcome.

The Black Bull

In a village of only a few thousand people in the 1840's (and fewer than 7000 today) all of the landmarks will of course be close together. But I was still surprised that the Black Bull pub, a frequent hangout for Branwell Brontë, was so close to the church. As in, those are the steps to the church on the right in this picture. The parsonage is maybe a five to ten-minute walk, depending on how drunk you are.

Happy new year!

A (bad) phone photo of one of the jumbotrons set up for viewing Zohran Mamdani's inauguration as New York's mayor yesterday. We had tickets for the viewing party, but this was taken from the wrong side of the barricades because the bitter cold and high winds made the idea of standing in a crowd for several hours unappealing, much as I like Mamdani.

Instead we walked a few blocks downtown to the Fraunces Tavern, which has been in business there since 1762, and was a favorite hangout for Washington, Hamilton, and Burr, among others. And which serves a scrumptious grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup that made up for missing the speeches.

Eating and shopping

Except for that big castle and some nice parks, central Windsor seems to consist entirely of shops and restaurants, and a few hotels where you can recuperate in order to do more eating and shopping.

Many of the larger old buildings—like the old train station on the top left—have been converted into arcades, full of still more shops and restaurants. But it all felt very jolly, with all the Union Jacks fluttering in the summer breeze, and my Disdain-O-Meter never registered above zero.

Thai food near me

I passed this restaurant when I was walking home from a doctor's appointment this morning and I laughed out loud (always welcome these days.)

I googled “thai food near me” when I got home and this restaurant was indeed at the top of the search results though it's actually on the other side of Manhattan. Very clever.

The Minotaur cafe

Which is next door to Labyrinth Souvenirs.

Outdoor options

The pleasant plaza in front of the mosque and a restaurant along the waterfront. One thing that I found strange in both Yanbu and Jeddah was all of the upholstered furniture outdoors—not weatherproof patio furniture but ordinary couches and armchairs. I guess if it never rains you don't need to worry about mildew.

Aguas Calientes

I like the old name Aguas Calientes better, but calling the town Machu Picchu Pueblo makes it clear it's definitely a tourist town—hotels, restaurants, shops—but also that it's a place that only exists as a waystation to Machu Picchu. There are no cars in town, only the buses that go up the mountain. And since you're only allowed to bring one carry-on sized piece of luggage on the train in, nobody is staying for long. (Many people actually do Machu Picchu as a day trip from Cusco.)

Lunch in the ruins

I do have one more picture—we had lunch at the restaurant at Huaca Pucllana, which was wonderful. We ate lomo saltado, beef stir-fried with vegetables, and ceviche, only a few feet away from thousand year old adobe walls.

Happy Thanksgiving

I took this picture through a taxi window: people eating in one of the sidewalk sheds that have become a permanent fixture on the streets of New York since the first lockdown ended. (Indoor dining was still not allowed so all of the restaurants built outdoor spaces.) And almost three years later, they're still here.

As is Covid, though we all seem to be trying our best to forget that. (In my chat group of grad students/teachers there are still people posting every week: “Hey everyone who was in Oral Skills on Thursday night, I just tested positive.”) And when I first processed this picture, I thought that the woman in the center was wearing a mask, and I laughed when I realized it was just one of the reflections.

I am thankful for many things this year. I got to leave the country again and see a little of Costa Rica. I got to go to Minneapolis and reconnect with my brother. I kept plowing through the Master's program and now, in just a few weeks, I will be done.

And I just had a chocolate cupcake for breakfast because I'm an adult and no one can tell me not to.

Los hits que estabas esperando

The only restaurants in the neighborhood were fast food—a real disadvantage when I wanted actual food, but I do always find the different versions of American fast food restaurants entertaining. Apparently in San José, the hits that you have been waiting for from Pizza Hut include cheese casserole and tomato soup.

Saturday reflections

 

A restaurant on Ninth Avenue last year, during the lockdown.

It has since reopened, unlike so many others.

End of the season

I am fairly confident that palm trees are not indigenous to New Jersey, but they do give a festive (and only a little tacky) air to this restaurant on the boardwalk.

Beautiful downtown Newburgh

A look at Liberty Street in Newburgh from the grounds of the historical site, and the back seating at Ms. Fairfax's, where we had lunch at the picnic tables.

It is so odd that after a year and a half of longing to be anywhere else that in many ways this weekend away didn't feel like a big deal. I'm grateful that it didn't, that it felt as though getting in the car (a car that I have owned for all of a month now, though that's probably worth its own posting) and heading out of town is something I do, and have done, regularly.

There were many small pleasures--fog-draped trees, nectarines from a farm stand, breakfast in restaurants, driving down country roads--and honestly I don't think I could handle anything more exciting than that. Not yet.

Urban poetry

 

Seating outside a bar on the West Side.

Restaurants are one of many things I've missed; going out for breakfast in particular has always felt like such a treat to me. I am of course perfectly capable of preparing my own eggs and toast and orange juice, and do so on a daily basis, but that doesn't mean that I don't love paying someone else to do it for me. Some of my happiest memories after I retired were sitting in a diner or a bistro on a weekday morning, eating French toast or an omelet while doing the Times crossword puzzle.

I'm not ready for indoor dining yet, but I may do an outdoor breakfast someday soon.

Life in the time of coronavirus

An empty storefront near the Port Authority.

I'd say it's starting again, except that it never really went away, not completely -- it just got  a little better. We don't have the sirens yowling all through the night, not yet, but the stories are back. Somebody's sister. Somebody's dad. Positive, but no symptoms, quarantining at home. Sick for a couple of weeks, but starting to feel better. In the hospital. In the ICU. Daryl. Angela. Susan.

Yesterday a friend called to wish me a merry Christmas, and we talked for a long time, catching up on all the silly things you share with old friends. An hour later, she called again, sobbing. Angela had died.

I'm not sure anyone writing a history of this time a hundred years from now will really understand what this year has been like. I know, I write for the hundredth or thousandth time, that I'm one of the lucky ones. (So far.) I'm not sick. I have enough money. Even so, I suspect that I will never really get past this now, that I will be jumping at this virus's shadow for the rest of my life. 

Life in the time of coronavirus

When you've only got room for two tables outside.

Here's another excerpt from A Journal of the Plague Year, in which Mr. Defoe demonstrates that even in 1665 people knew you could spread a disease before showing any symptoms.

…it was not the sick people only from whom the plague was immediately received by others that were sound, but the well. To explain myself: by the sick people I mean those who were known to be sick…these everybody could beware of; they were either in their beds or in such condition as could not be concealed. 

By the well I mean such as had received the contagion, and had it really upon them, and in their blood, yet did not show the consequences of it in their countenances: nay, even were not sensible of it themselves, as many were not for several days. These breathed death in every place, and upon everybody who came near them.

Then from today's Guardian:

Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner, says testing should be available if schools are to reopen: 

I’m not an expert in testing, but I would say that regular means weekly. It needs to be as regular as it needs to be to ensure the infection is caught and identified as soon as possible, and then the tracking system can move on from that. 

Schools minister Nick Gibb rejected that call, saying there would not be “routine testing without symptoms. The advice that we have is that it’s better to test when people actually show symptoms.”

Because why bother to prevent four or five days of asymptomatic transmission if you can just pretend it doesn't happen? The only consolation -- if you can call it that -- in this nightmare is that while the U.S. may have had, no question, the worst possible response to this pandemic, the U.K. is doing its best to show us that criminal stupidity is not uniquely American.

Saturday reflections

Another restaurant temporarily closed, on Ninth Avenue.

I'm happy to report that this one has reopened, for takeout only.

Life in the time of coronavirus

Restaurants are still limited to outdoor dining, so even places that were always indoor only are setting up areas like this so they can open up again.

Life in the time of coronavirus

Some additional restaurants have opened up for takeout only; some remain closed -- in many cases, probably forever.

There doesn't seem to have been much increase in new Covid cases as a result of the protests a few weeks ago, which is very good news. New York's numbers continue to decline slowly, and if the trend continues restaurants are going to be able to offer outside seating as early as next week.

I probably won't be participating. I do miss restaurants; going out for breakfast is one of my favorite treats. But even in the Before times, I didn't like eating outside during the summer, even in the shade. But I'm happy for my fellow New Yorkers, and even happier for the restaurant owners who could use the business.