summer in the city

one of my favourite places to spend summers is new york city. i used to do it a lot, before mortgages and dog feeding schedules got in the way.

i love everything about the city in the summer, even things that bug me in other seasons, or other places. it's sweltering, but sultry: everyone's a little sluggish, so you move a bit slower; there are so many bodies you can feel heat radiating off someone, but if someone quickens her step, you feel the breeze in her wake. clothes stick to your body, so you wear loosely fitting linens or cotton that get drenched and cling in sudden thunderstorms that make the pavement steam and everything a little blacker before they stop--just as suddenly--and like magic, everything's clear and the edge has been taken out of the day. every colour pops against its grey and gritty backdrop, everything you eat tastes a little more--saltier, sweeter, bitter, better. worse. everything you do, you remember in bright, jagged fragments.

i love walking, walking, walking with someone or no one, through the busy, crowded metropolis that gives way to patches or even acres of green. you jostle for space on the train platform, the concert floor, the coffee line, you find yourself alone in a museum hall, a matinee movie theatre, down by the riverbanks. your eyes ache and your feet blister, but you don't notice because your whole body is trying to absorb and remember the assault of sights, smells, and sounds around you. days end suddenly, nights stretch out and despite your fatigue, you fall into a state of dreamlessness and dreaming--the city's still moving and you can hear it outside your bedroom window. you can even feel the shadows the amber streetlights cast around you. it's at this moment you realise you are so anonymous you've become one with the city, your heartbeats are the same. the city really is at its stillest and darkest just before dawn, and it's only then you can finally drift off to sleep.

...

why am i telling you this? oh, i don't know. i was reading gothamist, and just daydreaming, i suppose. oh, and i picked up this faboo recipe for summer vegetable cassoulet from dinky, lovely ivo+lulu's.

i am actually eating it at this moment. yeah, it's 1am. i was busy.