New York City, March 10, 2015

★★★ To the north in the otherwise attractive morning lay a heavy brown haze, suitable for an industrial zone or the edge of unchecked burning, only odorless. The temperature was in a zone uncovered by any particular coat’s capabilities. People in suits had gone with topcoats or no coats at all. The sky was blurry. Around four in the afternoon, a dispiriting rain began lightly falling. By rush hour it was full rain but tolerable without an umbrella. The subway floors were greasy underfoot. Immense black-gray puddles spread across the crosswalks on Broadway, till the urge to step forward and look for a break in traffic was overpowered by the urge to hang back out of splash range.