March Monday Night Madness

I just came back from a walk to the east village (not lower or far east, just the plain east side). The days and nights of March are deceptive, they hint at the vanishing winter and the arriving spring, but catch you somewhere in-between most times. Then there are Mondays, when NY chefs take a break, restaurants close early, the fish and the produce are not fresh, and one might as well stay home and avoid the subs. Finally, the madness: 2nd Avenue Deli is shut down (altercation with the landlord it seems) and the perennial Kiev has closed after 30 years. Blocks have shuttered storefronts and graffitti. There are concrete barriers and city workers laying streets, constructors working with rigged lights to get new condos ready soonest, machinery in noisy motion throughout and the whole city feels like a warzone. Some days a walk through New York manages to be not charming.