New York City, January 28, 2016

★★★ A sanitation crew with shovels was hacking apart a snowbank in the roadway on Broadway. The sidewalk was clean and dry. The gutter puddles were small enough and avoidable enough for sneakers. Between the blizzard and the clinging warmth before it, the ordinary non-waterproof cold-weather boots still hadn’t come down off the shelf. The place where the ceiling of the downtown Times Square N/R platform drips was dripping. The snow put a fresh dampness on the breeze. Brilliant white high clouds drifted north, as lowering golden sunlight covered the living-room wall and flashed on windows miles away.