New York City, December 22, 2015

★ It required several strides, a confusingly long distance beyond the front door, to feel the first difference between the nominal winter outside and the temperature in the lobby. The flow out of the subway faltered and backed up on the stairs as the people in the front paused to deploy their hoods and umbrellas. The light rain became heavier rain. An open-topped bus rolled down Fifth Avenue with passengers wearing thin yellow ponchos in the upper deck. More buses followed, the tourist season unimpeded by meteorology, undeterred the Empire State Building being little more than a stumpy fog gauge. It was too clammy out to enjoy the mildness.