The working day of any itinerant vendor is a tough one. It's especially bleak in Willets Point, the auto-repair district near Citi Field, where the poorly maintained public roadways lack sewerage and become swamped after even moderate rainfall. Conditions are little better in summer.
At least three pushcart vendors — all women, all apparently Mexican — were doing their best to stay high and dry this morning. In the first photo below, at the far right, one hugs the edge of the road. The food and drink were basic: here an empanada, there a hot cup of avena (pequeña, $1), a thin sweetened oatmeal drink with little bits of oats at the bottom. Two other vendors offered slightly more extensive bills of fare from the hatchbacks of their parked cars. At some remove, four workmen clustered around a small fire of scrap wood — purely for their own warmth and not, it seemed, for the sake of a hot lunch.
Shown at bottom: a half-dozen pigeons.
Roaming hot-drinks vendor
Willets Point Blvd., Willets Point, Queens