New York City, July 12, 2017

★★ The air was optically clear but thick and disgusting to the touch. The barber’s pinhole shade was opaque from the outside and transparent with the sun coming in. The hot towel was fine but probably the cold one would have been better. A ratty pigeon lurched around, nearly getting stepped on. Walking was a chore; sitting still in the air conditioning was not better. A woman on the sidewalk and people up on a roof deck yelled back and forth across nine stories of space, trying to figure out how she should get up there.