Lunch by the New York Public Library
July 3, 2008
I finally left the office just before 3pm, 2 hours after the second assistant had left. I had earlier made up my mind about what and where lunch would be.. So here I am with my cup of crab bisque from Soup Man, sitting by the shade in one of the many tables in front of the New York Public Library. (There are actually even more chairs at the back by Bryant Park which flows into Sixth Avenue, a.k.a. Avenue of the Americas.)
There’s a young man with a fancy looking camera seated on the table a few feet from mine, discreetly snapping away at random. I must admit I am green with envy that he has that fancy toy while I am clicking away with my blackberry. This place is always teeming with people, most specially during the lunch hour when many executives and other working people bask in the sunshine and eat on the steps leading up to the library. (That’s the American love affair with the sun for you.). The guy with the fancy camera has stood up and is probably clicking away from another vantage point.
The tourists are resting their tired feet. New York City is, after all, a walking city. (Bring your most comfortable shoes!) You can easily spot the tourists either because they’re wearing shorts or they’re thumbing through a map other than one of the subway. (We Locals still need it occasionally on the train so that is not always a dead give away.)
This is "me" time. I figured I could take a half hour and just sit here, think aloud online, just listening to the intermingling of the sounds of traffic on Fifth Avenue, the chirping of the birds overhead, the chatter of the Japenese tourists behind me and this couple taking a lunch break in front of me. We often get carried away and live our lives on a very tight time table. This is my moment to literally stop and smell the flowers. I don’t get to do it as often as I would like to, except while doing something else like going from place to place. Today, I’m doing it and concentrating on just being.
In a short while, I’ll be standing up and cleaning out my mess, heading 2 blocks down to pick up some Clinique supplies at Lord & Taylor then I’m walking to my express bus stop at the corner of 36th and Sixth Avenue. I am hoping I don’t get distracted by the urge to visit some of my other usual haunts this side of the city — like the Cosmetics Market on 39th (between Fifth and Madison) or the bead shops (on Sixth Avenue between 36 and 34th). One of the bigger stores is actually on the corner of the bus stop. This is going to take a lot of willpower!. Perhaps the thought of having to pick up the little tyke from daycare will pull me onto the bus on time. Meanwhile, have to get going…
(And yes, picking up Angelo brought me to the bus stop straight. The bead shops will always be there… I’ll save that for next time.)
My day in pictures:
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