A confluence of major events made for a slightly hectic week, as players from three ordinarily nonintersecting domains crowded the city’s stage.

Meanwhile, keeping an empathetic eye on the Gulf Coast (and a skeptical eye on the White House), New Yorkers reacquainted themselves with the dubious pleasures of actually putting in a productive day at the office.

The devastation that Hurricane Katrina wreaked upon New Orleans concentrated the minds of New Yorkers, who also weighed the possible consequences of such a storm’s hitting the five boroughs someday.

It was a week of mercy and forgiveness, when hundreds of Hamptons houseguests were doing their best to forgive their hosts’ décor, as the precious remainder of the season drew to a close.

It was a New York week replete with events, affairs, controversies, milestones, and even a happening or two.

Our sweltering sidewalks were positively pulllulating with tourists, and for some out-of-towners, the city's ways took a little getting used to.

New York spent much of 2004 imagining that it was becoming more like the rest of the United States, only to realize late in the year that it was still rather different in a crucial respect or two.

As the city sank into estival torpor, Con Ed reported that electricity consumption had hit an all-time peak. People sought relief however they could.

he week after the London bombings, it Twas borne in upon slightly anxious New Yorkers that the MTA had spent a mere $30 million of the $600 million it had committed to security.

Any disappointment by New York over its failed Olympic bid had to be reckoned as trivial compared with what the winning city went through.