I have been working out of Brooklyn since the middle of June and I finally did the coast day that three separate people had told me to do. Long post, because the timing is the real story here. Twelve hours door to door. Out of Carroll Gardens at 7:10 on the Friday, back on my own street just after seven in the evening. The first ninety minutes of road are easy enough. Then you reach the last stretch and in August that stretch is a car park with a sea view at the far end of it. My own fault for picking a Friday, when half the city is pointed the same way at the same hour. Go midweek. Water was around 22 and completely flat. After six weeks of subway platforms at 35 that was a physical relief and I sat in it for an hour doing nothing at all. The thing nobody warns you about beforehand is beach parking. The permits are run village by village and they are for residents, so having a driver is quietly the reason the whole day functions. Ours put us down at the top of the sand and went off to sit in the shade somewhere for four hours. I asked him about it afterwards and he said he does two of these a week in summer and gets through a lot of reading. On money, it is a lot for one day. When I stay somewhere for a month I allow myself one expensive day in the four weeks and this was that day. For a week long trip I would think about it much harder.
