What a Difference a Day Makes...

Twenty-four little hours. Saturday began quite cold, the tail end of a mini-Arctic blast, but Sunday felt like spring. I was bundled up in my travels on the former, jettisoning the extra sweater, gloves, and wool hat on the latter. I prefer to travel light when I can.

On the colder side of this weekend with the split personality, I encountered a group of tourists on the subway. I took an educated guess that they weren’t native New Yorkers when I heard their Dolly Parton accents. A fellow among this southerner contingent—who sat directly across from me—eventually caught my eye. And this eye-for-an-eye inspired a conversation that commenced with a series of questions: “Are you from New York? Have you lived here all your life? Is it always this cold?” My replies: “Yes. Yes. No.”

Actually, my answers were a tad more elaborate than that. Representing my fair city, I naturally wanted to make a good impression. Yes, we periodically receive blasts of bitterly cold weather in wintertime. And some winters are worse than others. This one has been rather benign, with no measurable snow in these parts since before Thanksgiving. Ushering in the deep freeze of the previous week was a super squall—a ten-minute blizzard—in the late afternoon, which was followed by a beautifully cold sunset. No shoveling, though, was required for that winter-weather trailer.

Anyway, the southern-fried straphangers informed me that they were visiting from South Carolina. They told me, too, that New Yorkers were moving down there fast and furiously. I was asked whether I would consider moving south. I responded, “I certainly can understand why people do.” After a little Christmas cold weather, I could do without winter. But I apprised them that in the end, I wouldn’t likely be moving to the Palmetto State or, for that matter, the Sunshine State, which was, once upon a time, the preferred destination of the Big Apple’s restless senior set.

Take my word for it: It was quite frigid when I snapped this photo.

The weather and the seasons may change, but robotic millennials addicted to their smartphones likely won't.

Winter certainly has its moments.

The Hudson River on ice was such a pleasing visual that it kept me in the Great Outdoors longer than I had anticipated.

The brackish Hudson in wintertime...

With its ever-adaptable, hearty seagull denizens.

One lucky bird is savoring its catch.

It depends on what the meaning of "sculpture" is. Looks like a roller coaster track to me.

I'm no fan of hipsters, but I think poisoning their lattes in avocado shells is a bit extreme.

A day later...feel the thaw...

But be careful on those steps. Last week a woman with a baby carriage fell down a flight of subway station stairs. Her baby was unscathed, but she died. They are not always the easiest steps to navigate, particularly in inclement weather and when smothered in ice melter.

There are countless lessons to be learned on the streets of New York. Life-saving facts and information abound in places that run the gamut from bus shelters to...

Pay phones.

This would be an ideal location for a Deep Throat museum.

Oprah is not welcome here.

Say it ain't so: The Best Pizza has raised its prices a whopping twenty-five percent...

But, happily, a couple of doors down the "Best Coffee in Town" can be had for a buck...

And not too far away is yet another bargain. They still exist in increasingly pricey New York City. You just have to know where to look.

(Photos from the personal collection of Nicholas Nigro)