Solstice and Strike

Last night, Neilson and I went to the annual Bedford-Downing Street Block Association Winter Solstice Party. It's held in Churchill Park--decorated with lights for the occasion--and there is always mulled wine, hot cider and tasty treats, this year donated by the Greenwich Village Bistro. We brought along a special guest--my cat Audrey. I was afraid the cold air and the noise might scare her, but she had a great time and was the belle of the ball. People kept coming over to introduce themselves to her and we were the subject of several photographs. There was a tense moment when a bulldog looked in on her, but even then she kept her calm.

(Neilson, Audrey, Jane S. and Don, enjoying the solstice.)

The talk of the party, besides Audrey, was of course the (now ended) strike. Everyone was pretty good natured about it, but then people in Greenwich Village tend to work somewhere between midtown and downtown, and can walk to work. Each morning I went by the Brooklyn Bridge, where people poured off into City Hall Plaza, looking cold and tired. But even they also looked kind of happy, accepting the coffee and hot chocolate offered by the Red Cross and the teacher's union with smiles and laughing about the absurdity of the situation. I'm glad its over and feel the same conflicted feelings Jody express earlier today. But it is always great to see what troopers New Yorkers are and how we rise to crisis when its called for.