The door-closing bells can be way, ear-splittingly louder than necessary. I used to go around with earbuds covered by industrial mufflers.
i've had earbuds in for most of the last couple of days, to block out the sound. this piece of elation with an embarrassing thumbnail has been helping.
there's an industrial grease-trap cleaner on my street this morning, a big green snake tube going into a totally horrible restaurant, its quite a drone to wake up to, smashes you in the face as soon as you get out the front door
there's two coffee shops on my street, the closest one always has a massive queue for some reason, the staff seem harried, to the point of some of them being outwardly hostile in that nyc way, and the coffee is only ok. one of the baristas, who i think looks like a model, seems to really hate me, probably because i don't tip i think, she makes a bit of espresso and then dumps a load of milk in the drink with such disdain, it's quite amazing to buy a drink and experience a kind of dismissal at the same time - anyway so i go to the other one a couple of blocks away, which is great, good lads and dead good coffee, but there is one guy there - this is the point of writing this - who dresses like a kind of make-up wearing pirate, its a strong look, who plays at any time of the day pretty loud 80s rock, it's good a psychedelic edge to it but that old school rock sound is really grating when you have to shout over it, it was kicking my arse this morning, it made me think about how probably one of the appeals with this kind of thing when it first came out is the intensity of it, how annoying it is for most other people, a bit like gabba or speed metal or whatever. although to modern ears it basically sounds tame. the other guy there plays radiohead quietly, it's better when he's there
it's absolutely beautiful out today though, nice early morning light