The painting and singing day

Last weekend, in a moment of grandiose magnanimity, we all pitched up for yet another New York Cares Day. On this one day every six months, thousands of New Yorkers collectively unite to help paint the public schools and clean the parks of the city. Of course, these are the same New Yorkers who would probably draw a gun on you if you bumped into them in the street. But on New York Cares Day, all these pettinesses are momentarily put aside in the name of humanitarian betterment. Oh yeah, and of playing with paint.

Impressively early on a Saturday morning, we all piled pellmell into a little yellow schoolbus headed towards PS184 in Queens. Immediately receding into his yellow schoolbus days, Delta started throwing wadded paperballs at Lahsiv. Kids will be kids. Sigh.

By the time we arrived at the school, Mr. and Mrs. Pooks were already en scene, already covered in paint, beavering away in one of the classrooms. So with economy of time (but after dappling in the breakfast buffet laid out for us), we quickly divided ourselves into little groups and attacked the various rooms that needed painting.

All I can say about our efforts (other than that they really were rather effortful), is that some poor kids in PS 184 have been walking corridors of the most shockingly bright yellow this week.

I'm not quite sure when or how it happened, but suddenly, at the end of the day, the exhausted crew ended up at Keats for a quiet, celebratory drink. And then another.

And then another.

And then, the inevitable, karaoke. Surprise, surprise!