New York City, August 16, 2012

★★★★ Too nice for its own good. Absent any real defects — mugginess, haze, rain — the day suffered only from unsteadiness: the best parts called attention to the less good ones. Around the corner from a flawlessly comfortable cross street, the direct sun on the sidewalk was uncomfortably harsh. One subway platform was a shadowed breezeway; the next was still a stale heating duct. You could go up on the roof and watch the clouds, as long as you kept one eye screwed shut against the tear-inducing glare.