A New York Time
Squirrels quarrelling, going nuts about nuts. Lovers arm in arm, mesmerized by their surroundings. A homeless man begs at the feet of passers by, I hope he finds shelter tonight.
It‘s 5 in the afternoon on a cool January 6. Locals scurry to their Sunday roasts and family affairs without pause for the squirrels or the man who is destined to sleep in the cold.
My loved ones have gone, they’re headed for sunny Sydney and unpredictable Melbourne. I am hanging on time, these are my final moments with this electric city and this is the closing chapter of my solo adventures.
It’s dark and eerie here. The paths intertwine only visible now by the glow of old fashioned street lamps standing tall and lean above the ground.
I sit on top of a park bench looking towards the Gapstow bridge. I try to capture this moment in led on a page in my blue notebook but I lack artistic talent. Instead of taking a blurry snap or making any further note, I sit, I open my eyes to feel all that is and promise myself to etch this moment into my memory forever.
This is my goodbye to New York for a while, a city I have grown to adore for its endless offerings of life and colour. The rythyms of the Harlem churches, the jazz scene of Brooklyn, the many talents of the subway, and a city called Manhattan.
New York New York
Flashback to an icy cold evening in Harlem. I left my most treasured glittery, knit headband in the backseat of our big yellow cab, the one that flew around the bends as we neared the jazz bar.
We arrived to a long queue in a quaint bar with cocktails named after Ella Fitzgerald and the likes. We bumped shoulders with the locals as we waited to enter the room at the back, the room that promised some soul.
We were sat at a small round booth under a tarted up orange lamp shade. We were not disappointed, the band served exactly what we ordered, and then some!
On a different winters evening in the lower east side, we encountered another lady of jazz whom I’ll never forget. She stood before us and asked ‘the most important question of all time’.
“What are you going to do with this one and only life?”
The question that becomes more relevant each day.
