Wednesday, May 19, 2021

Back to work


An early morning chat with the men in dark suits. Some will soon be back to a five day week in their offices. Others will work from home on Monday and Fridays. The problem they have is everyone else wants to work from home on Mondays and Fridays too - so their hugely expensive offices on Madison will be deserted for much of the week. Changing a New York City lease and slimming down floor space by 30% or 40% isn't easy. The other problem is that all those little midtown cafes and coffee shops they rely on for services can't survive on a foot fall that's crammed into three days rather than the five they're used to.

We are the first down to the river this morning. Sophie gives me her long suffering ' Do try to keep up !' look. 


As we head off round the dockside it becomes clear that we're not actually the first up and about. A gentleman is out sailing his yacht on the river. It must be the first time he's on the river this year. From time to time he can't help but shout out with glee.


The priority when we get home is for Sophie to check up on 'The Font'. Or, to be more precise, to ensure that 'The Fonts' yogurt pot is ready to be licked clean.

No sign of the workmen yesterday. Perhaps today ?


This wet weather driving the roses into hyper activity. A heavy pruning is in order.


I can remember , as a six year old, having a small pot of glow in the dark paint . Great for painting door handles and light fittings.  Mega cool ! when you're that age. The sort of thing that would drive todays health and safety crowd into paroxysms of fury. No one believes me when  I tell them that in shoe shops childrens feet used to be x-rayed : https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/uranium-glass-radioactive-plates-cups

How interesting :https://palladiummag.com/2021/05/17/why-civilization-is-older-than-we-thought/

Washingtons best donuts ? :https://www.callyourmotherdeli.com/

Oddest thing you'll read this week :https://petapixel.com/2021/05/17/photographer-snaps-bird-catching-a-ride-on-bigger-birds-stick/

9 comments:

WFT Nobby said...

Oh yes, I had forgotten all about those foot x-ray machines in shoe shops. They really did exist!
I just skim read the article about Göbelki Tepe and the history of human civilizations - absolutely fascinating and I'll return later to read it properly. Thanks!
I trust the yoghurt pot is sparkling clean by now.

Coppa's girl said...

Yes, I remember having my feet x-rayed too - so that my Clark's school shoes and sandals were a perfect fit!
Angus if you're struggling to keep up with Sophie, you could invest in one of those little electric scooters. They fold up easily and stow in the car. Personally I don't see the point in having one to walk dogs, but they're very useful for silently creeping up behind people in pedestrian areas and frightening the life out of them!
Still no development in the magically refilling yoghurt pot?

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
Being of exactly the same generation as Gail (and I suspect, Angus), I never had the x-ray shoe fit experience. Only the long sliding ruler thing with tapes for the girth... I too have reserved the Goblecki article for deeper reading.

The issue of differing work practices and damage to small business in city centres is not confined to Manhattan, I fear. YAM xx

Tara said...

Haha! We just moved from Haddon Township a couple of years ago. Facebook lit up that day when "a student bought uranium on Amazon and brought it to class". I hear they're patting the kids down in the morning these days, looking for contraband dishware.

Poppy Q said...

I'm a touch too young for the xray shoes, or maybe it was something that didn't reach NZ? One thinks that suit people should be grateful that they have jobs to return to. Many businesses here are down sizing offices and more hot decking, with letting some staff work from home a day or to a week.

Sharon said...

I also saved the article about civilization for a later long read. When I read the Uranium Glass article I went and got my black light and used it on some green glass that I had inherited. Lo and behold one vase glowed in the dark. The bird picture was amazing. It reminded me of the many tourists bicycling through the County with carts attached to the back of the bike with camping supplies and sometimes children.

Fay said...

All interesting links. The last made me wonder if I should unbox the red Fiesta complete dinner set a relative received as a wedding gift prior to 1928....The story I heard was that the recipient was appalled because the set was cheap and common....(a gift from her sister).

Taste of France said...

A boyfriend back in the 1990s lived just off Wall Street, in one of the early office buildings to be converted to apartments. It sounds like more of that is to come. (It was a great apartment, BTW). Having worked remotely for 15 years, I can say it gets old. Just before the pandemic, I had even started looking for a job in an office, just to get out of the house.
I have a bunch of green glass (and pink) from the 1920s--my grandmothers--but no black light to check it. Uh oh.

Liz Hamblyn said...

My husband works for an American company based in Wellington and he has not been in the office since Feb last year. The company vacated the building above Lambton Quay in April and are moving into a high rise in Willis St, with half the floor space. Half his team have left Wellington and live as far as way as Hamilton, with no expectation that they will ever come back to an "office".