Brooklyn, July 27, 2022
Inspired by Tom Scocca with his lovely weather reporting but written without him in mind and an old War on Drugs song on repeat
Was pleasantly surprised when I stepped out into the apartment building’s corridor and it didn’t feel like stepping into the early stages of a loaded and recently used dryer…that awful humid heaviness that I’ve come to mostly associate with a deep London summer. Girl with the always breathless dog and his tight pink balls was stood there, staring off into the contents of her phone and her dog greeted me with a frantic tail wag and a hot tongue to my wrist. She was muttering something under her breath. I stepped out and the trees were swaying…I found myself enveloped by strange winds. They were warm and temperamental and made me feel unsettled and like there was something worth chasing, worth clarification. Despite the clear indication that we were slowly rolling out of the almost apocalyptic heat from the previous days, I could sense that once the sun reached full bloom, I’d be feeling the tiny trickle of sweat down the inside of my arm where it creases into itself even if I hadn’t exerted myself. I’ve made the very sensible commitment to walk 7k steps every day and just about have kept it up for a couple weeks now. I walk to combat my neuroticism and to breathe in Brooklyn, this leafy, noisy Brooklyn I think I have taken for granted. But of course this realisation hits me now as I plan to do what I always do after a short while: call another place home. We are dancing around The Move. Salt in the air, pedestrian hate, lobster rolls, a Subaru. A finished basement. Painting on the porch. Appa, appa, appa….
The willow tree on 6th looked taller, wilder. Ghostly, in the white light.
Today, my corner of Brooklyn was asking me to forget myself and forgive what has felt like an endless assault on me and my already low tolerance for summer. And I gave in, gave into its electric spirit that always tries to ask for my affection. Today, I swallowed the sun and felt the wind bury itself in my skin. Today, the fruits tasted sweeter. Today, I let things in.