New York City, May 25, 2017

★ The only good news down below the windows was that the people under their umbrellas were not steering around any sidewalk flooding or deep gutter puddles. The light was dull and the rain was soaking. In the afternoon the light strengthened and it looked as if the rain might have stopped, but it had only thinned. Umbrellas and hoods couldn’t really do anything against the moisture hanging in flecks, but it was too unpleasant not to try. A young man had ventured burgundy suede boots, with a nap that might have been able to hold off the little droplets. By evening it was back to full drizzle; the food cart operator offered the Apple Store as shelter while he cooked. It didn’t feel so bad in any moment, but the water beaded on the wallet in the time it took to finish paying. In the dark there was less of it on the wind but the wind was rising. The buildings were gnawed away by mist and people were confusing dark shadows against the shine of the still-damp pavement. Later still, a rumble too steady to be a truck was confirmed, by a flash through the blinds, to be thunder arriving.