2001-11-29 - 11:00 a.m.

The owner of this particular cart on the sidewalk is a Middle Eastern man, somewhere in his early 50's, I'd imagine, but young looking. Sometimes his wife is with him, the two of them sharing the tiny space behind the window counter. They know their regulars, and make the usual small talk in the mornings, and when I look particularly tired, or get there early in the morning, he looks at me and smiles and says, "Large today?" They are part of my day, and I always leave with an inner smile.

Today, as I chatted idly with him and waited for my coffee, a woman and a man stepped in line behind me. And as I walked away, I heard her ordering coffee in the most horribly condenscending tone. She was speaking loudly and slowly, drawing out her syllables, as if she were speaking to a very small child, or perhaps an idiot. I felt an impulse to go over and smack her.

And what's with the yelling? If someone doesn't speak the language (which he does, fluently, but she didn't bother to find out) speaking LOUDER isn't going to help anything. Same with the deaf. If someone is deaf, and reads lips, people tend to speak really loudly - um, hello? She's reading your LIPS, not sounding out your words from the vibrations of your booming voice. Not to mention, now everyone in the general vicinity is staring.

Damn, people

It's gloomy and drizzly in NY today, although it's ridiculously warm. I don't mind days like this in the city, although I do anywhere else. I feel strangely happy and warm on days like this, watching the headlights and the shop window neon glowing on the wet pavement - even at 8 in the morning, it feels like late afternoon. Things will be really slow for me at work from now through the end of the year, but that's ok today, too. We're burning fall candles in our office, and the radio is on loud, and my coffee is still hot. I'm feeling very content.

The tree lighting was last night at Rockefeller Center - I didn't go, though. I can't take the crowds - I'm usually so harassed and annoyed by the time I get near it, it's almost ruined for me. I went home and wrote some Christmas cards, then went to the East Village to have dinner with the boyfriend at Radio Perfect0, then we came home and watched the news and went to bed. Tonight is Friends and Family night at Brad's store, so I'll be heading there after work to see P's new line of bags, just out. Then Jane is flying in later, for a family party in NJ this weekend, but I get her tonight in the city. I'm looking forward to some time with her - they're too few and far between.

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