Found our way to Fika Espresso Bar’s flagship store in the Financial District. It’s a very very cool lofty clean space, reasonably empty because of the weekend I’d say, but just fantastic that it’s still open even though they probably don’t get much business when the bankers are all home for the weekend.

It’s on a great little route we’ve mapped out to take visitors from City Hall down to Battery Park. Excellent coffee and a delicious brown bread (yikes!) sandwich that we took for a picnic later.

We saw him! On 5th Ave! A man was sitting on a crate with a bag of belongings, reading a book with a sign that said “Please help. Every little bit counts”. And in front of him on a blanket with a bowl of nuts and a bowl of water was a tabby cat. In a jersey. He seemed quite contented there and when he did get up and take a couple of steps along the sidewalk the man grumped “Hey! Where you think you’re going?” Kitty stopped in his tracks. “Where you going? GET back here.” Kitty turned and came back and sat on his blanket! He had no lead around him and knowing cats, I don’t know how he was being prevented from darting into the rushing traffic or getting under a trillion shoppers’ feet or skeltering off at loud brakes on a bus or angry cabs honking their horns.

I didn’t go and pat him, I wasn’t sure of the etiquette although it was probably $1 a pat.