Pulling back into pier 61 tonight (Thurs.), as we played "New York, New York", I noticed one of those Police vans that are about the size of an ambulance rushing to the event space at the end of the pier with it's lights blazing. Anything like that is going to get your attention, and sure enough as I was walking toward the bus stop, there were about a dozen emergency vehicles - paramedics, fire trucks, as well as a helicopter flying overhead.

And as I kept walking thru the scene, I looked into the water - the water between piers 61 and 62 - and I saw what was drawing all the attention - a red, upside down, passengerless kayak. Kind of an eery sight.

I know they offer kayaking at Chelsea Piers and we see them sometimes, not very far out there in the Hudson. My guess is it was someone inexperienced. The weather was not bad at all tonight after the week of rain we've had (kind of inconvenient, but also the catalyst for making lower Manhattan appear much more dramatic, as the sky skrapers literally interact with the weather).

There was one summer's evening I remember when I was driving down the West Side Highway - I was probably somewhere between Christopher and 14th Street - and I'll never forget how those World Trade Towers looked. The sun was setting and was bathing everything in an orange-pinkish glow, and it looked as if someone had spun an immense cotton candy swirl that was both completely surrounding, but also brilliantly interacting with the Towers. Like some enormous vacuum cleaner were sucking the clouds up directly above the Twins.

Its hard to describe. It was just one of those moments when everything was 'just so': the light, the barometric pressure, the temperature... all the variables which created this rarity. I never once saw anything quite like that again. Although it was not unusual for the very tops of the towers to be socked in by a thick storm.

Anyway, I digress.

I wonder what the whole story was down there tonight. I haven't yet checked any news coverage. I wonder if it was just one, unfortunate person. The response was impressive. There were literally about 12 emergency vehicles of all shapes and sizes. I think I counted two helicopters by the time that bus pulled up.