New York City. The Big Apple. Manhattan. Its skyscrapers, Its rectangular intersections between streets and avenues. Yesterday evening after checking in at the hotel I walked from 27th East down to the the New York University campus area. Walked in a kind of trance due to the jet lag trying to keep up to go to bed late enough. And yet, I first woke up just after midnight after dreaming of my brother and his son Antonio. I got out of bed went to the toilet and when I cam back into the room the wide open eyes of Picasso were looking at me from the huge poster which hangs on the wall behind the bed in this small and old hotel room at the Gershwin.

I sat on the right side of the bed. My feet resting on the wooden floor. Took a sip of water from a plastic bottle. Checked the time as I was unsure about it. Went back to sleep. Now up again and it is almost 04:00 am. Meaning that I will go for a run at around 06:00.

Yesterday walk was nice, especially in the university area. Young people coming from the departments, exiting the library and sport centers. Some talking in mobile phones: ‘I told you to I would be late…’, said a guy.  ‘I am no longer talking to him because ….’, spoke a girls. One black guy passed with a mountain bike at crazy speed singing as loud as he could. In Union Square two students set up a session with drums and saxophone which was quite impressive. A guard looks bored outside a fancy apartment house but says hi to me moving slightly his head up. Two girls are dressed in roman clothes and are either going to a  party or a performance. I opt for the first.  A homeless sits on the pavement, grabbing his knees into his harms, he is barefoot, next to his feet a small cartoon box with a handwritten message I cannot read.

This city breathes life in all its sides. The happy, the poor, the glittering, the dull, the sad, the aching, the worried, the stressed, the love, the pain.

I walk past a university dormitory. Maybe 6-7 floors high. I look up at the widows. Most have the light on, some don’t. A girls is typing at a computer. In another two guys are drinking  a beer form a can.  Another window high up has a woman mannequin wearing a very sexy and pants and the obvious red light coming from behind in the room. I used to look at similar windows in Glasgow at our dormitory. I liked to stop in the evening when coming back from the university in the evening. Looks at the lights on in those one rooms and imagine the life of the students within them. Some of them I knew, other I did not. It all looked more like a huge bee nest with all its boxes where honey was stored.

This was the New York City I saw yesterday evening walking randomly. Listening to the amazing number of languages that people talk in its streets.

It is not 04:17, I should maybe try to get some light sleep before my morning run.