July 7, 2021 - $2.50

$2.50 gets you an English Breakfast tea at the Cosmic Diner on Eighth Avenue. You can sit outside and watch people walk by, and watch cars and trucks drive by. There’s also a bus stop nearby, so you can drink coffee or tea and watch people stand and wait for the M10 and M20 busses as well. There’s two tables on the sidewalk and it’s an easy way to spend a half hour at the end of the day on any afternoon, especially at dusk. The tea is served in those light blue ten ounce “It is our pleasure to serve you” paper cups, which are the perfect size. And the brand is Celestial, which prints quotes on the tags at the end of the string attached to the bag.

It’s noticeable: the amount of people who are out and about and walking up and down Eighth Avenue these days, compared to last year, and compared to two months ago. The summer weather helps, but really, people are just over the New York pandemic lifestyle. For instance, as I was standing at West 56th and Eighth Avenue on my way to the Cosmic Diner –––– and waiting for the light to change, and watching cars pass by me before I crossed West 56th ––– I noticed a woman holding the hand of a girl who appeared to be her daughter, who was chatting away ––– talking about memes, and asking her mother to look up and over at a weird looking building. They both stood so close to me. And for a moment, I felt crowded. But this is what it feels like to live in a city that’s emerging from a year and a half of social distancing and fear. Recalibrating to the ordinary rhythm and cadence of life.

But the Cosmic Diner, I was saying. You can sit inside or you can sit outside. The cool thing is that outside at dusk you’ll probably get a table, and you’ll probably have plenty of space to just sit and have tea and remember what it feels like to be a New Yorker all over again –––– whatever that meant for you all the way back then, it’s here again.