'After a Few Moments of Awkward Silence, We Reached the Other Side'

Taken aback while crossing the street, a photogenic doughnut and more reader tales of New York City in this week’s Metropolitan Diary.

'Baby Steps
Dear Diary:

I had gone into Manhattan to see my obstetrician at New York Hospital, where I was to deliver my second child in a few weeks.

After leaving the hospital, I was at an intersection on York Avenue when I noticed a blind woman with a cane who was also waiting to cross the street. I offered her my arm, and she accepted. The light changed, and I guided her across the street.

We were trundling along companionably when she tilted her head toward me.

“You smell like a vanilla ice cream soda,” she said. I was completely taken aback.

After a few moments of awkward silence, we reached the other side of the avenue.

The woman leaned toward me again.

“That’s a compliment,” she said.

— Lies Chartier'

Drizzly Sunday
Dear Diary:

On a warm, humid, drizzly Sunday afternoon I decided to see a matinee. The film was O.K. at first, but it got worse and worse as it continued. I left before the credits rolled.

I decided to walk home. The rain had stopped and a breeze was tempering the humidity. I headed north past Lincoln Towers, and then took a right on West 70th Street. I decided to stop at Cafe Luxembourg for a glass of wine.

To my left at the bar was a man by himself: bourbon and a glass of pilsner. It was Father’s Day, and his children had forgotten. To my right were two women in their 70s. They were getting together for the first time in 15 years. One was having champagne and Aperol; the other, vodka on the rocks with lime.

I sat for three glasses of Chablis, listening to him talk to the bartender, and to them talk and laugh with each other.

I didn’t want to leave.

— Sabina O’Reilly'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/11/nyregion/metropolitan-diary.html