Rain in the Park

Oh, let me tell you a story. A story about sitting in Bryant Park in the rain. Actually there is no story. I just like, "Oh, let me tell you a story" as an opening line. I need to amuse myself sometimes. Anyway, I was sitting in Bryant Park in the rain on Wednesday morning from about 9:15 AM until 9:45 AM. I was keeping dry under one of the large table umbrellas they have in the park so it's not like I was getting rained on. So this isn't an "I got caught in the rain and soaked to the bone" story. Those all end the same anyway. With the participant all wet. So who wants to hear another of those? Not me. I'm snobby like like that.

It's my habit when I go into NYC to work or to relax that I take a little time and sit in Bryant Park. Maybe draw a bit, maybe take some photos, and maybe just sit. There are tables and chairs in the park so this facilitates sitting and drawing pretty well. Do you know what doesn't facilitate drawing? Rain. That's right you heard it here first. Even under the cover of umbrellas paper gets damp and even wet. So when it's raining there is only sitting going on.

This past spring when I was also in the park as it was raining (passing showers the weatherman said) the park was really crowded. It was in the afternoon and more people were out for lunch when a shower hit. I couldn't even get a seat that time but managed to stand under a big table umbrella to keep dry. Many others were crowded under many umbrellas. That shower lasted half an hour and I didn't get to draw that day either. Took a few photos but not from a lot of angles. Just the "Portrait of Park From Under Umbrella" angle. It's a classic.

Wednesday I was easily able to get a seat because of the early hour and because this was no passing shower. It had been raining for most of the morning. And then a thunder storm that hit. Well, at least there was a little thunder maybe not a full blown "thunder storm". Usually when thunder is out and about I am inside so it was quite odd not to be. According to the "count the seconds between lightning and thunder" method the lightning was five to seven miles away but that didn't make it seem any safer as I sat under my umbrella. Lightning just seemed to appear in the air.

There were forty story buildings on all sides of me (Bryant Park isn't large and I was at its edge) so I guessed that I wasn't in any real danger from lightning but what do I know? Seventy five people could have been hit by lightning in the very chair I was sitting in and how would I know? I had no place to go right then and would have to cross open ground to get anywhere so I just sat with a few other people in the park. The streets were still filled with folks getting on with their day and none of us got hit by lightning. So we were all safe after the storm was said and done.

I've stood under my back porch during a thunder storm but I don't think I've ever been outside quite like I was on Wednesday. I may have been under a bus shelter or two during some lightning incidents but that was never by choice. And only until a bus came along. No, this was the first time I was out, sorta by choice, while all around me it rained and thundered. It made me feel like I was living dangerously. I'm not much of a danger hound but you could probably tell that from this story. If a story it is. Oh wow, I'm blowin' my mind up. Later.