Friday, 10 March 2006 | New Disney, New York

Nice weather makes New Yorkers particularly friendly, especially when it's the first 70+ degree day following winter. Everyone smiles at each other and holds the door for the person behind him and clicks their heels together as they disappear down the street. Today at lunch I decided to take advantage of the warmth and walk around taking photos of people, an experience that was so pleasant and easy that it felt like I'd been dropped into a fairytale or a ride at Disney World, where the saucer-eyed characters have permanent grins and continuously wave at you. (Also, I should note that the Mr. Softee ice cream trucks have come out of hibernation, an important inclusion in any proper fairytale.)

I take fewer street portraits during winter, so it's been a while since I've asked a stranger for permission. I was feeling quite shy and was beginning to reconsider my mission, when a totally photogenic man noticed the camera hanging from my shoulder and said, "Hey Blondie, you don't want to take my picture, do you?" "Actually, I do," I replied, wondering if he also knew that I was planning on eating a burrito for lunch.

I owe Photogenic Man for being so perceptive, because it broke the seal for the rest of my walk. Everyone I approached was agreeable to modeling, and I ended up speaking to several people I would've no doubt passed by on a normal day.

[After taking several shots of one man, he asked, "You're not a cop are you?" thereby altering me to the strong possibility that he was involved in something illicit. (He seemed very relieved when I told him No, and kind of laughed it off as if he had been kidding.) A man with a gold tooth stuck several poses for my camera, shifting into a new stance each time he heard the shutter. Another man tried to chat me up, using the novel(?) pickup line that his wife just left him for another woman. When that didn't get him far, he pointed to our respective eyes, and told me that only 15 percent of the world's population has blue eyes. (Guess what? He and I are going on a date tonight! not really.)]

You know what else? The manager at my favorite lunch destination gave me my lunch for free with a wave of his hand, and an older gentleman with white hair chased me down the street holding the orange that had fallen out of my bag. New York is creepy today, in the best possible way.