Day 30 – The Royalton
44 W44th Street
And then came Ebola.
Here’s a multiple-choice question for you.
Imagine you’ve been caring for Ebola victims in West Africa. You return home and start feeling nauseous and fatigued with a rising fever. Do you:
- Stay in bed and try to get better
- Go to a hospital
- Catch the subway and go bowling
You can imagine the topic of discussion in New York this week and the general sense of bewilderment at the circumstances surrounding Case #1. After all, it’s only the most populous city in the country. But New Yorkers don’t strike me as hysterical types and everything seems pretty normal around the place. Anyway, as my doorman says to pretty much everything, ‘Waddaya gonna do??’
Keep writing’s the answer. And so I should because Act 2 (of 4) just won’t end. I’m nearly there and it is the longest of the Acts, but on and on it goes. Acts 3 and 4 will tumble forth in an avalanche in comparison.
In the Royalton, I was back at 44th Street where it all began (at the Algonquin). The Royalton has no literary history I can uncover, but it is used for a lot of film premieres. My very chatty waiter told me Bill Murray’s latest flick had been presented there last week (and Bill too). We both agreed ‘Groundhog Day’ was his best work. (Which reminds me of his co-star Andie MacDowell and the 70-odd lookalikes I ran into in the W Hotel one morning who ate my red velvet pancakes.)
Nothing much to report about the Royalton. Very dark, timber lobby. The sort of place to disappear into in the middle of the day. Would be a lot of fun at night, I imagine. Maybe I should try that as hourly word count was pretty average (again).
Today’s word count: 2533 (over 4 hours this ain’t great)
Word count to date: 74,475
