Tales of The City

I've been meaning to write this for a long time, but things keep coming up. So now it's going to sound like a lot of news, all piled up, but well... there is a lot of news.

Fiville has changed. No, not because of the "Fi" part, but the "-ville" part. I don't know if I mentioned this earlier on my blog, but it happened around three weeks ago. So, these days, I frequently find myself starting sentences with "When I go to MD -- oh, I mean NJ -- next, ...."

While this means eternal (for the moment) separation from dear old MD, it also means I'm a stone's throw away from The City. And while I admit I've been partial to MD, I'll also admit that I am willing to give a lot more leeway to this area simply because it's a short half-hour journey to downtown NYC.

We were in The City yesterday, my first time since the move. Walked around a little, went to a used book store, bought The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia by Paul Theroux (I can rarely resist a book about trains), lunched on Restaurant Row, went for The Lion King on Times Square, walked up Sixth Ave. through a street fair selling kettle corn and French crepes, leather items, jewellery, clothes and NY goodies, ate our delicious kettle corn while sitting at Columbus Square and feeding the pigeons as well (till Fi unwittingly scared them away), then walked down Eighth to take the bus back home in the evening twilight. It was one of those rare perfect days for this time of the year, at least... not rainy but a little wet from the previous day, not hot but certainly not cold, with the sun peeking in through the clouds once in a while to remind us of his presence.

The Lion King is one of those plays I can recommend to absolutely anyone. The story brings out the child in one, the technical aspects delight the scientist, the use of light and color is psychological perfection, the combination is entertainment in its purest, most intelligent form. Highly recommended.

I wouldn't consider this an over-indulgence, but I guess it was... very shortly after getting back home, I was laid up with a sore throat which seems to have matured into a 'flu-elect today. I'm wishing myself good luck for tomorrow, when I go back to Chicago to lead my other, less forgiving, life.