And suddenly, with the force of a thousand furies, it’s Monday again. I have things taped to my desk. Paper clipped to my desk. Attached to my desk with fasteners unheard of. None of them truly interest me. the temptation is great to sweep them all aside with a dismissive hand and keep moving.

But that isn’t how things are done, is it?

I had myself a good weekend full of deep and honest conversation and good and true friend type stuff, punctuated by beer and long walks in the desolate, deserted places along the lower east side. When it hits a holiday in NY people scatter and it is a lot of fun to go walking somewhere.

Thursday night, down on Ave. A, it was chilly and raining and maybe 1/6th of the normal number of people were about. Mostly it was empty space and glittering rain.

A day or so later the first few Xmas tree sellers had put up stands, cleverly designed to make you love/hate/love. You walk into this forest of pine, the smells rich and strong and heady. You look around and smile, it’s so wonderful. Then the middle of the walk hits you and it is all chintz: stuffed penguins in Santa hats, baubles, shiny useless things, glittery tree stands. As soon as you are fed up and sick of the fakeness that they are pushing you come out into the second half of the row of pine and forget about it all for a second or two.

Perfectly smart design there.

And that’s gonna be the whole city for another two months. It’ll get worse quickly and better slowly. The people will crowd the streets and shops with shoulders and knees and bags a-swinging. Soon, there will be whole places in town you won’t want to go unless you really and truly need to. But then, if yer here on Xmas you want to go to the places that aren’t the full on haunts. They’ll be empty, quiet, still and settled; for one night.