The Eerie Stillness of the City

Hard to describe how a bustling city can be still, but it is this morning. Even though the sidewalks are as crowded as ever, and Port Authority buzzes with activity as usual. The overwhelming sensation is one of stillness. The weird thing is: you look down 8th Avenue, and you can see the circus a couple blocks away. But that doesn’t matter. It doesn’t touch the essential stillness of this place today. A city holding its breath, perhaps.

The cops have been doing an incredible job. Keeping the traffic flowing, moving, never at a standstill. Multiple crossing guards at every intersection, keeping things moving, controlling everything. I suppose this is so no cars will have a chance to come to a full stop and then blow themselves up or something. But the traffic moves, moves, moves. The pedestrians move, move, move (even at the intersection of 42nd and 8th which is, typically, an absolute clogged nightmare).

The crossing guards and the cops waving traffic by gives a veneer of order, and efficiency to the entire urban landscape. But it also adds to this odd feeling of waiting, of watchfulness, of overriding stillness.

It’s almost over.