New York City, December 8, 2015

★★ The daylight got off to a late and uncertain start, under a sky that alternated patches not thick enough to be white with patches not thin enough to be blue. By afternoon, it had failed entirely, and the narrow space between buildings filled with gloom. There was a gleam to the streets that almost made them look wet, but the pedestrians were merely hunched and hooded, not umbrellaed. All that was left by rush hour was festive artificial brightness around the sidewalks and a faint brown glow on the clouds, while some brightly lit speck of a toy was shot up a few dozen yards and sank down again.