Rainy Day Walk

Oh, the rainy days in NYC! We all have memories, and so often they’re miserable moments when you feel like your life has culminated in this big failure in the unforgiving city — unprepared and hapless, drenched, ruined shoes and suits, and feeling just plain stupid because you could’ve and should’ve planned better. But there are just as many happy memories of rainy Manhattan days. They need to be remembered and reminded. Thank you for a beautifully, perfectly, joyfully told memory. Gotta love that bus driver. Here’s looking forward to our next really big rainy day. You know it’s coming. Let’s all make it a good one.

I have a friend, a long time New Yorker, who had a unique solution to the umbrella problem. When the rain became more than a sprinkle she'd stop in a restaurant and announce that she thought she left her umbrella there a while back. The hostess would inevitably show her to a closet or alcove crammed with lost umbrellas. Friend would grab the grungiest of the lot and be on her way. When the rain abated she'd pop into another restaurant, show it to the hostess and announce that someone must have left their umbrella.

I have one too: This was quite few years ago: I was in a taxi cab on my way to the doctor, on the upper east side, a Friday afternoon. A family with a little girl were preparing their car for a trip, the little girl was having a tantrum. Ahead of the taxi was a Doritos truck, the driver reached out and gave the mother a package of Doritos.

Not a rain story but similar. I was walking west and saw a bewildered small frail elderly lady on the corner looking at a scrap of paper, a doctor’s address on the east side. I was trying to figure out how to get her there, when a Spanish cab driver pulled up, got out of the cab, accessed the situation. “I ‘ll take her, no charge. “ We both helped her in the cab, and off they went.

Yup, that's what we New Yorkers do for each other!

1970: I remember running from Bethesda Fountain thru Central Park, down 72nd St. to West End Avenue where we lived in the pouring rain. I would take off my shoes and run barefoot, drenched through and through. My hip length hair flying in all directions. The heat. The steam rising on the sidewalks. The biggest raindrops in the world!

You deal with the rain differently in Manhattan and in many sections of the city. Unless you are on an open avenue, the rain is vertical, falling straight down. the rows of buildings provide a funnel effect. An umbrella, even a thin one, keeps you dry. Unlike outside of the city, where rainfall is often horizontal, negating much of the usefulness of the umbrella. You find yourself relatively dry on top, but soaked from the upper waist down. We often opt to just wear a raincoat and cap, leaving an umbrella to urban usage.

Visiting NYC from Australia in May this year, I met up with friends from Boston who have never walked through Central Park (unbelievable to a tourist!!). It was raining lightly and we had 2 umbrellas between 3 of us. I suggested we walk the west side of the park and if the rain increased we could take our chances that Tavern on the Green would be open. 30mins later it was pouring and thankfully Tavern on the Green was ready to receive us. We spent a very pleasant 2 hours over drinks chatting and listening to the little jazz combo playing while waiting for the rain to ease. We couldn't have planned a better catch-up if we'd tried. Another perfect rainy day in New York.

Thank you for a wonderful Diary entry Joeanna to end the week on a bright note and with a smile. And thank you for adding yet another panel to the beautiful Metropolitan Diary quilt of great New Yorkers from all walks of life who take the time and who care enough to extend that helping hand or, in your case, open that bus portal to a safe and dry ride the rest of your way back home. Happy weekend. Allen