New York City, February 9, 2015

★ Another Monday, another underdelivering storm. This one’s dramatic peak came before dawn, with the sinister ticking of ice against the windows. The result was somewhere between danger and annoyance, under a dispiriting dark sky. The caution tape roping off the glazed-over forecourt rattled in the wind. By afternoon, the ice was going over to a film of slushy grit. The seven-year-old took big looping strides, flexing the rubber ankles of his boots. The cold seeped right through the knit hat. Uncollected dog shit was dissolving everywhere on the sidewalks; one dog, rather than waiting for nature take care of the liquefaction, appeared to have gone ahead and sprayed diarrhea alongside the urine on a snowbank.