Cornavirus Days New York

Empty New York City Streets

"It's CORONAVIRUS DAYS"

March 2020

CORONA VIRUS DAYS

Day 5

It’s Friday March 20, 2020, and the 1st day of Sring in the year of Our Lord 2020. It was an absolutely gorgeous day out today, and I thoroughly enjoyed it walking around Greenwich Village, New York City. It’s 75 degree right now at 7:30 in the evening, and I just love the air of the air, if you know what I mean. Th atmosphere is oh so lovely, with a slight breeze blowing as I sit out here on a park bench near my apartment in The Village. Normally I d’ be at work right now on just about almost 50 Friday nights a year, an unable to enjoy twilight on a Friday evening in late March. Yes, late March but it feels more like mid-May, it just so nice out, and when the weather is as wonderful is it is right now, this very moment in Greenwich Village, New York, it is the twilight time that has long been my favorite time of the day.

In later years when my two favorite cafes were still open and it was aone of my days off, you could usually find me at Once Upon a Tart Bakery - Cafe at twighlight time. I’d be sipping on my cup of Joe, and either chatting with one of my cafe friends or else working on my latest book or one of my blogs. Once Upon a Tart used to close at 7 PM, and I’d pack my bag and head on out of the cafe and onto Sullivan Street in what we true Village residents of Italian decent still call this are The Village. To most people, they would say and think this spot to be in Soho, “it’s not,” any true resident of the southern end of Greenwich Village will tell you the same. And oh by the way, it’s the block of Sullivan Street that lies between Houston Street on the north end, and Prince Street to the south, with Saint Anthony’s Catholic Church on the North West corner of the block. Pino’s Prime Meats, Italian butcher shop is on the block, along with a Chinese Laundramat, and as I’ve said Once Upon a Tart until the year 2015, when not only did I lose this spot, but my most favorite caffe of all, Caffe Dante on Macdougal Street, an Italian Caffe that operated there on that block for exactly 100 years from 1915 until the sad day when Mario Flotta closed the days of Caffe Dante for the last time.

Anyway, as I was saying,  I absolutely adore the at twilight time of day, when they shuttered the dooros and I walked out onto Sullivan Street, and before the of September 11, 2001, I could walk out of The Tart, suck in some fresh Greenwich Village Twilight Air, turn my head right to look up Sullivan Street to the north and get a wonderful view of the majestic Empire State building all lit up, usually in white lights, but if it was around Christmas Time it would be in Red & Green, Yellow and Orange on Thanksging, and Red White, Blue on December 12th for Frank Sinatra Birthdays, pr Red, Whie, & Blue on the 4th of July. Yes I could trun right to see the Empire STate Building, and then turn left and look donw Sullivan Street to the south to see the Twin Towers all lit up and rising out of the ground soaring high into to the sky of Lower Manhattan in the financial district of New York City. ANd oh what a sight it used to be from that vantage point in Greenwich Village look down to those two majestic towers of The World Trade Center. The lights of those two immense towers radiated energy and some kind of aura that was hard to explain, but it always mesmerized me, and I didn’t just look and not feel or think anything at all, as very many might. No not I, I felt it, and I appreciated the sight before me. No, I never took those moments for granted. Not I.

Let us get back to the day at hand, Friday March 20th 2020, Greenwich Village New York. It is the 5th day that Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill DeBlassio ordered all restaurants and bars in New York City closed for business due to the fatal Corona Virus Pandemic that has hit our city and the rest of America, as well as England, all of Europe, and most of the World. It’s a serious health epidemic taht has spread from China, to almost every part of the world, killing thousands of people, and we do not, at this time have a vaccine or any cure for this dreaded desease. Mayor DeBlassio, Govenor Cuomo have taken measures to try and stop the this deadly virus from spreading. They closed the restaurant that I work at on Monday, and I am now out of work, until God Knows when. They’ve closed all restaurant and bars, so I don’t know how many hundfeds of thousands of restaurant workers have lost their jobs also, as well as me. And all cafes are are closed too, whcih really gets me, as I can live without bars and restaurants being closed, but to have to live without being able to go to a cafe every single day (which I do), to get my coffee, but even more so, just to enjoy the nice quiet relaxed environment that my favorite cafes afford me, to sit, write, surf the net and sipp my beloved cups of coffee, this is one of the joys of my life. A simple pleasure, and a ritual that is ingrained it my utter being for the past almost 40 years or so that I’ve partaken in this pleasure that I love so dearly. It has now been taken away, and I’ve got to deal with it, until when? I do not know.

Daniel Bellino-Zwicke .. to be Continued ...