11:ooPM last night as the sound of jack hammers started up again.
Q:Why doesn’t the city of New York have any “quality of life” rules about State Workers ripping up the sidewalk right in front of your house at 8:01PM until 10:59PM with jackhammers that are really,really, fucking loud? The word unconscionable comes to mind. I wonder if road crews that work in residential neighborhoods get rocks and stuff thrown at them a hell of a lot. I was really pretty much going to find out for myself. Bastards.
This brings me round to the general moral level around here. I found this small interview last week with an ex-British writer Joseph O’Neill, and his thoughts about the current state of things:
Q:So the WTC disaster has altered your perception of the city?
A:To live in New York was to draw on the energy of a collective adventure. But now the story has changed The collective feeling is now one of fear and anxiety,and it is impossible to separate the self from the whole. New York no longer offers what it once did, which I think was life at its most playful.
I unfortunately thoroughly agree.
Another British writer, Zadie Smith shares a piece of her mind in this letter to the editor and gives us a bit of food for thought on writing as well.
As a counter balance, I see the Village Voice brings us “The Best of New York 2001” issue this week. Oh okay, I guess my perfect day in NYC would be closest to the one Toni Schlesinger describes in careful detail. Especially dinner. I could use a dose of Bamonte’s right about now.
7Am this morning
Q:Sidekick:Did you hear they were jack hammering at 3:AM in the morning?
A: I slept through that?