Winter wonderland

Well it's all new to me.

18°C one day, snowing the next.

Yesterday a nice snow storm coated the city. At about 10am the nice big slow falling flakes began.

By the time we left to go play after lunch it was a whiteout. The city is transformed. The place is much quiter.

I couldn't resist a ride up along the Hudson. Riding in the snow & ice required some sharp reflexes.








Later it started to sleet and then finally rain which wrecked all the snow. With the rain and thousands of feet stomping around the place turns into ice slush. Getting around is interesting. Big puddles of ice slush form at every street corner. If you don't have the right shoes, and a bad knee then jumping the puddles is interesting. Before you know it your feet are wet unless you have the right shoes. Gumboots are a fashionable as well as practical item. More important is grip. The wrong shoes and the wrong leap over an ice puddle and the result is not pretty. Luckily I learned this through observation rather than direct experience.

So within hours I had a new pair of mostly water proof hiking boots so I could stomp through the ice puddles like everyone else.

Little miss was meant to arrive via 2 hour flight from out west last night. The weather meant flight delays of hours, planes stuck sitting on runways waiting for a gate, and I had mental images of a little frozen corpse showing up.

Fortunately she made it just fine. Quite the cutie, and a great personality too.



She has no name yet. The current candidates are Mia and Laura, neither of which I like or think suit her.

And she seems to be the stereotypical pissy puppy... peeing on the carpet every few minutes. Toilet training in the snow & ice is interesting.

Cold, thirty, still employed

A lot seems to have happened in my last rotation around the sun. A new milestone, Dirty 30 as Shelley calls it. In typical fashion a pretty low key celebration at some local beer bars.

I'm still wrapping my head around the weather here. A few weeks ago it was still getting to 18 degrees during the day. Tonight it is -6C outside with a fairly strong breeze.

I'm just not used to thinking about the cold. Not used to having to put on gloves just to go outside.

I've gotten into the habit of cycling home from Andrew & Robyn's a bit before midnight if I go over for dinner. Well without gloves there is more urgency and it turns into a lively 20 block sprint that ends in numb hands and burning lungs.

Yesterday morning I got up early and rode to central park and did a couple of laps. I was meant to meet up with Bales and A&R but missed them. I didn't check the temperature before I left but my eyes watered and nose ran a lot. Did not see another cyclist the whole way to the park, either on the bike path up the west side of Manhattan or on 69th street across to the park.

The reason it seems was that it was -2C outside that morning.

So this week I'm planning on investing in some goretex gloves and a down jacket.

Which it seems I am lucky to be able to do at the moment.

16 people were laid off from work this past Wednesday. Totalling about 40 in the last few months. Including a high school mate of mine, one of the 4 Aussies in the office.

The economic downturn is really scaring people at the board level. It sounds impossible to get investment let alone credit, so young growing companies are struggling.

This will be a tough time for NYC. I see on my way to work a few shops have closed already. I hear that Wall Street it becoming a has-been in the financial influence of the worlds market. The investment banks having to become commercial banks just to survive. Taking less risks, moving away from the swashbuckling culture. It will be interesting to see how that changes the city. 11% of the city works in finance bringing in 40% of the annual income.

The capital of capitalism having to deal with negative growth? Pay cuts, job losses. How with this affect the gentrification of the city? How will this affect the mood of the average grumpy New Yorker on the street?