Category: Libraries

In the blink of an eye

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Recently I read this “Twenty years in the blink of an eye and every afternoon eternal” and it resonated. It seems that our daughters have gone from being these children playing on the beach to the women they are now, aged 35 and 33, in the blink of an eye. I well remember the eternal afternoons, and mornings, when looking after two young children was at once exhausting and interminable, filled with the mundanities of feeding, changing soiled clothing, playing and intervening in squabbles. Older people, including my mother and mother-in-law, would advise me to enjoy this time because they grow up so quickly. And I thought, quickly! you must be joking! Now that I am older, I know what they meant – their childhood now seems like a remote dream and I can only vividly remember isolated incidents.

Incidents like the afternoon when the five-month-old lying on the sofa beside me found her feet, which kept her (and me) entertained for most the next hour as she tried to catch them and when she did, putting her toes into her mouth. Like taking them to the library, where they were able to choose five books a week. Then getting home and having to read all ten books immediately, the girls sitting on the sofa beside me, their little legs sticking straight out. Like sitting at the table in the kitchen having dinner, which Dad had cooked and which I was lavishly complimenting and to which our younger daughter responded “Daddy’s a clever girl!” Like the girls being small enough to lean against my legs while I put on their socks and shoes, their sweet-smelling heads below me. Like Saturday nights, when Dad bathed them and washed their hair, sending them through to me to dry and dress in their pyjamas and bright red dressing gowns, while he made them ‘face’ pizza for dinner and we all watched Country Calendar.

Those older women were quite right when they told me how quickly the time would go. One daughter left home for university at 17 and the other at 18 and they’ve never been back to live with us, apart from short study breaks and university vacations, and now only visit for even shorter periods once or twice a year. From the vantage point of our seventh decade, the last 20 years have gone in the blink of an eye.

Apple of my eye

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What is there to say about New York City that hasn’t already been said? Probably nothing. So I’ll just say that I’ve always wanted to visit. Now I have and I was not disappointed.

The landmarks

The green spaces – Central Park, Bryant Park, the High Line, the trees and planters that line the streets

The Met – in all its wondrous abundance and beauty

The arts – Broadway, Birdland, NY Public Library, Strand Books

There is also the atmosphere of the city as one walks the streets and avenues, which make Manhattan so easy to navigate. The teeming crowds on the sidewalks who follow no discernable rules, try as you might to keep to the right. The snippets of conversation one hears while walking – New York accents and people speaking in languages from all around the world. The myriad street vendors and panhandlers, who will sell you a hotdog, an NYC cap or a bus tour. The outfits, which run the whole gamut from tourists in ‘I heart NYC’ T-shirts to the sartorially exquisite in designer dresses and high heels or suits, ties and hats. It is endlessly fascinating, though one is relieved to get back into one’s air-conditioned hotel room at the end of the afternoon, before going out again in the balmy evening to go to a show, walk along the East River or watch an Amazon zero-hours contractor make a night-time delivery from an e-cycle vehicle. Another striking feature of this magical city is its clear air and clean streets. I loved it!