Wet Friday

I went this morning early to have breakfast at one of the 2 local  ( 210m away according to Google maps)  places I liked last year. I arrived at 7.45. There were several people sitting having coffee and a pastry. She told me that the kitchen did not open till 8am. Fine, I asked for a coffee. At about 755 I asked the waiter  for the poached egg dish.  I thought I said that I was not in a hurry. I am not sure what he heard because soon after that he brought me some nice bits of bread saying the eggs were not quite ready.

I put on more clothes before I ventured out again. It is wet, windy and cold. I went on a roundabout route to a Wholefood store near Columbus Circle. Last year I discovered this chain in Boston and found one near me in Washington. Like a giant health food store selling fruit and veg, meat, prepared delicious salads etc etc. On the way I stopped at a Laundromat and found how it operated, then I called into the Lincoln cntre to pick up my opera tickets. On the way I quickly realised why ¾ of the locals I saw were wearing gumboots. It was not raining particularly hard, but the drains were all overflowing and it was impossible for me, even with my fairly long stride, to not have to slosh through water at each curb. Before I left I had painted my shoes and bag with supposedly water-proofing liquid, but it did not work.

Some of the shops put up a temporary sort of box like heavy-duty plastic structure in front of their entrance to minimize water from umbrellas etc in their shop. These structures just make it all a bit harder to dodge the umbrellas.  

 It has been suggested to me by my 2 Frivolous Friends and 1 other  that as well as having fun, I should try and have frivolous fun. Wholefoods is in the lower concourse of the huge Time-Warner building. There are shops on the ground level. I was walking past a fancy chocolate shop and  I  looked at their spring display including chocolate truffles  covered in brightly coloured stars and a butterfly and suddenly thought – definitely frivolous.  I bought 2.  

In the Wholefood shop they have interesting things. I could have browsed for ages, but my feet were wet, my hands frozen ( wet gloves) , my 2 handkerchiefs soaked - mainly rain and I wanted to go to my nice warm cosy room.  I wanted a toothbrush. I could have bought one made completely from recycled yoghurt containers or one hand made from biodegradable plastic material or one made from natural bristles( which I chose).  Wholefoods give a 10c discount if you take your own bag, which I did. They only have paper bags , for free I mean, which would not have lasted very long this morning.