New York City, August 25, 2015

★★★ The sun was not too scattered to cast a retrograde shadow as it came back eastward off the mirrored tower. The MetroCard receipt stuck obligingly to a fingertip to be photographed for reimbursement purposes. A hot damp wind came up the sidewalk as the shoulders shuddered away the effects of the air conditioning. Objectively sweltering and foul as it was, it still took a bit of walking around to find a place that was genuinely uncomfortable — Union Square, as it turned out, with the sun battering the open plaza and a drummer banging away in a little bit of shade. A big bright cloud swelled over Fifth Avenue late in the day. The heat lost its grip when the sun did. Leaves stirred in Lincoln Square and a bagpipe carried from some unfixable location.