It’s unbearably hot. The real feel is 110°. The actual temperature is 99°. The fruit stand is quiet and cool, though. The air conditioning is on, so it’s comfortable. It does mess with one’s mind, this heat.

Annemarie flew off yesterday. There was a delay when her plane left the gate and a passenger was ill and had to be taken off the plane. It’s not an easy thing to do. One can’t just turn around and go back. Everything is scheduled and flights are stacked up for arrivals and departures. It was a bit distressing when I hadn’t heard from her. It turns out her phone was not fully charged and she was trying to save power.

The visit this year was not like other years. Where there was time I took off and spent as much time with Annemarie, this year was not that. Everything was stressful. I should make another trip out there but with finances being what they are right now, who knows if and when that would happen.

Nothing is going on at the fruit stand. Hardly anyone is around so that adds to the slow creeping of time through the day. It was just like that yesterday. When I came home yesterday I was fried. I did my best to be pleasant but it took more effort to be comfortable and it is not easy being pleasant when one is uncomfortable.

I heard from my old friend while outside in the shade smoking a cigar. They posted an Elton John reference which I got immediately and for a few minutes there we texted back and forth. It ended when I texted that I was listening to Boz Scaggs’ Silk Degrees and the Spinners Greatest Hits. I’m comfortable living in the past.

Mike texted me as well, saying he was sorry for not answering the phone since he was napping. I may have surprised him when I told him I did not phone him at all today. I did yesterday when he was napping. And when he’s not napping he’s talking to his beloved Wade. In both instances his calls go to voicemail and I just gave up on contacting Mike.

Bill has been around. Not much work this week. And he had a dental visit this morning. Now he is at his actors club where it is air conditioned so he’s taking care of himself. I have two and a half hours left at the fruit stand and while I am looking forward to a three day weekend, getting home will be like walking through a furnace, I fear.

It’s nothing I haven’t done before, though it is hotter than I can recall. I like working at the fruit stand. It sure beats working at Barry McGarry and the twats that I worked alongside.

Mike plans on coming over this weekend. I am thinking about putting the other air conditioner in the window by my computer. Not sure how that will work out. It’s something I should discuss with Bill when I get home. Or when he gets home.

Sunday was Pride, Sunday was Julio’s birthday. I haven’t seen Julio since he literally ran into me at the Art & Music Fair, which is something he never attends. But there he was with wife, Stine. I wished him the best. His oldest, Alexander, has graduated from high school and is off to college. The youngest, Christian is still in the grammar school system.

Monday was Bill’s birthday. We had a plan to go to Sandy Hook. Annemarie suggested it Friday but it was overcast. Monday was better. Annemarie had been chauffeuring all over North Jersey and since Bill loves to drive it was decided that he would drive to Sandy Hook. Mike was supposed to join Annemarie, Bill & me but an interview was scheduled so he dropped out.

Once again, a route was needed to be taken without using toll roads. A bit stressful once again but this was Bill’s forte. He knew where to go. Annemarie sat in the back as I sat up front next to Bill. I was trying to be a good DJ, satisfying Annemarie’s taste as well as pleasing the birthday boy.

I had also forgotten or blacked it out of my mind how Bill drives a car. He drives a car like he was driving a bus. It’s nerve-wracking and a bit frightening. It was on Monday afternoon. Bill can be so fucking stubborn, we almost hit another car when he decided to make a right turn from the left lane in an intersection.

Annemarie noticed it as did I. I have a pet peeve about people making turns like that from the wrong lane. The ride back was fraught with disappointment. As usual we had ice cream in Rumson, and on the way towards the highway, where we should have made a right turn, Bill decided to make a left and take us further away from where we needed to go.

It was so fucking stupid, and like I said, Bill could be so stubborn there would be no point in telling him. So suppression was the way to go. It was largely an uncomfortable return and I don’t know if Annemarie ro Bill felt uncomfortable. Not much conversation occurred during that oh so long trip back to Hoboken.

We parted ways in front of my building, Annemarie headed to Garfield, and Bill and I climbed up the four flights. On Saturday, during my grocery shopping I bought a red velvet cake, which Bill likes. But it was not enough and Bill wanted a chocolate mousse cake as well.

I had 2 birthday cards for Bill as well as 2 gifts. He ignored the cards and went right to the gifts which was also another disappointment. He didn’t notice or open the cards until the next day. I was at work, and it was busy yet quiet.

The whole day I kept telling myself to be nice, it’s Bill’s birthday. So I was nice and swallowed anything untoward.

Today it is not busy and very quiet.

Not much going on. It’s a summer holiday week and many people are out, or at least, working from home.

20 minutes before lunch we’re spent watching a man and a woman who climbed to the top of the empire State building to unfurl a flag that said when the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace this is usually attributed to Jimi Hendrix but it might be from somebody else.

I watched with sweaty palms and a nauseous feeling as the man and the woman did what they did.

the man knelt down and proposed to the woman before they descended and were arrested by NYPD.

The guy that I went to grammar school and high school that has a scar on his chest in the shape of a T was in the helicopter flying above and reporting as only some guy from Lodi could.