A Scene to Warm a Penguin’s Heart

Chang W. Lee/The New York Times The high temperature of 23 degrees in New York City on Friday left no chance that the ice floes in the Hudson River would melt. The forecast for Saturday includes snowfall of up to one inch.

A Spilled Cup on the No. 1 Train

Dear Diary:

It was a busy Monday morning, that kind of day where you’re half-awake and half-asleep, and you feel kind of numb, and every movement feels tingly and annoying, and you’re lucky that you’re able to push your way into the No. 1 train car.

I yawned. I wasn’t fully awake, as an early school schedule does not allow for dawdling and snooze buttons. I noticed steam beginning to form on the window in a circle. The air smelled of coffee and sweat. Suddenly, a woman let out a small shriek, but most in the car were too busy fumbling with their iPhones to notice.

“My dress, my dress, my dress, my dress!” she repeated, grabbing on to the ends of her expensive-looking, body-hugging white dress. A thick, brownish liquid formed an egg-shaped stain, dripping off the end of the cloth. A pool formed there, the liquid encompassing her white high-heeled shoes, staining them likewise. Next to her stood a tall man, unmoving man, holding a tilted cup, empty but still dripping with the last of his beverage.

Then, the woman turned into a tornado of fury and brown stain.

“WHY THE [expletive deleted] WEREN’T YOU CAREFUL WITH YOUR [expletive deleted] COFFEE? THIS IS A [expletive deleted] TRAIN! YOU KNOW TO HOLD IT BETTER THAN THAT! I HAVE A [expletive deleted] INTERVIEW, YOU [expletive deleted] KNOW!” she wails.

As the brakes started to squeal and the train entered 79th Street, the tall man smugly motioned to get off the train.

“It’s tea, not coffee, you know.”

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Week in Pictures for Jan. 24

See the slide show

Here is a slide show of photographs from the past week in New York City and the region. Subjects include carriage horses in Central Park, the swearing-in ceremony for Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and sledding in a Queens park.

This weekend on “The New York Times Close Up,” an inside look at the most compelling articles in Sunday’s Times, Sam Roberts will speak with The Times’s Amy Chozick, Lorne Manly, Kate Taylor and Tom Kaplan. Also, Anna Quindlen, an author, and Jason Robert Brown, a composer. Tune in at 10 p.m. Saturday or 10 a.m. Sunday on NY1 News to watch.

Read current New York headlines and follow us on Twitter.

Big Ticket | At $14 Million, Two Are Better Than One

Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times The Century condominium building.

Two condominiums high in the north tower of the venerable Century at 25 Central Park West that were marketed as a single entity â€" to assemble a full-floor residence with panoramic views â€" sold for $14 million, the most expensive sale of the week, according to city records.

The unusual opportunity for an outsider to buy a lofty floor in its entirety at the Century, and to acquire 2,962 square feet of interior space and spectacular park frontage, inspired a bidding war that quickly eclipsed the asking price of $12.5 million.

The aggregate monthly carrying charges for the 29th-floor units, which will be combined by the buyer into a nine-room residence, No. 29QR, are $7,707. Among the Century’s outdoor amenities are a common roof deck, a courtyard and a garden.

Previously known as No. 29O+Q, the larger unit, at 2,106 square feet, sold for $10.08 million. It has three bedrooms, two and a half baths, beamed ceilings, period molding and expansive windows. The grand living room faces the park, as do the eat-in kitchen and the corner master. The other unit, No. 29R, a recently renovated one-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bath, 856-square-foot apartment with views of the western and southern cityscape from its corner bedroom, sold for $3.92 million. As the small but coveted piece necessary to complete a two-part jigsaw puzzle, it garnered a premium price for its seller, Tomas Lajous, in a brokerage firm-concocted combination in which each apartment enhanced the value of the other.

Amy Katcher of the Corcoran Group represented the sale of the larger unit for Living Investments, a limited-liability company in Southport, Conn. Robby Browne and Chris Kann of Corcoran had the listing for the smaller unit, and Mr. Browne also brought the buyer, identified as CPW2 L.L.C., to the two-pronged deal.

The Century, an Art Deco landmark between 62nd and 63rd Streets, was designed by Irwin Chanin and built on the site of a performance space, the Century Theater, in 1931. The building is one of just three condominiums among the fortress of co-ops that dominate Central Park West below 88th Street.

Ms. Katcher said the twin attractions of a combination unit on a preferred floor at the Century had driven the deal. “The intention behind it was to create a single, full-floor residence,” she said. “And it is just really rare to get a full-floor condo in a tower in a prewar, full-service building in a hot area. It was a bargain compared to what it would cost anyplace else, and the unobstructed views are actually superior to what you’d get elsewhere: There are views from every room in this apartment.”

With several rooms providing views in multiple directions, and not a neighbor in sight, the potential residence promised a level of privacy and gracious living rare in this crowded city, she said.

Big Ticket includes closed residential sales from the previous week, ending Wednesday.

Opossums Are Unloved, Yet Hard to Resist

Cody Pope, via Wikimedia Commons Opossums might be on the list of New York’s least loved animals, but it is hard to resist their appeal.

The Virginia opossum is more closely related to kangaroos and koalas than to the rats and rodents with which it is frequently compared. North America’s only native marsupial, the opossum is probably more frequently observed in New York City trash cans than in New York City parks.

And though their unsanitary services might place opossums on the list of New York’s least loved animals, it is hard to resist their appeal. Perhaps it is that pointy white face, or the wide, toothy grin of 50 undifferentiated teeth (a primitive marsupial characteristic), but the smile looking up from the bottom of the trash can is like a mischievous child’s. It is easy to anthropomorphize, but an opossum wants an approval it will probably never get from us.

Staring at a Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) is like collapsing the history of mammalian evolution into a single moment. Mammals like these were scampering through the underbrush while dinosaurs ruled the earth, and with hard-won perseverance, they maintain several very primitive characteristics.

Baby opossums are born naked and blind, about the size of honeybees, after a gestation of just under two weeks. They face their first challenge immediately: a climb to their mother’s marsupial pouch. An opossum may bear up to 24 joeys at a time, but she has only 13 nipples.

Life is hard for these animals, and a 3-year-old opossum is an old opossum. To make up for this brief life span, opossums begin to bear young at 10 months and never stop, producing multiple broods annually if conditions permit.

The animal’s most famous talent, “playing possum,” is not a voluntary response to a threat. If hissing, lunging or baring its teeth does not ward off a problem, an opossum actually faints from stress. Physiologically, the opossum shuts down, balls up its front feet and goes limp. It may even drool from its open mouth.

If this drama fails to dissuade a predator, it can exude an ill-scented, greenish mucus from its anal glands to heighten the impression that it has died.

If it is hard to imagine a predator fooled into believing an animal who was snarling and fighting just moments ago is actually a rotting carcass, consider that there is no shortage of opossums in North America. The subterfuge must work at least some of the time.

It is interesting to note that the drooling, drunken behavior of a bluffing opossum often fools humans into believing it is rabid. For reasons that are poorly understood, opossums are highly resistant to rabies, and are far less of a threat than raccoons or skunks. Of course, it is never wise to be close enough to any wild animal to find out. It is also wise to seek medical attention for any scratch or bite from an opossum.

Because these marsupials have a range that extends from Mexico to Canada, it is not surprising that all five boroughs of New York City and its surrounding suburbs are home to them. Opossums do not hibernate and can be observed at bird feeders, parks and your garbage pails through all four seasons.

New York Today: Waiting Out the Cold

Karsten Moran for The New York Times

Updated, 6:54 a.m.

Good Friday morning to you.

Behold the miracle of the double-digit wake-up temperature.

- It’s not quite a heat wave, though: 12 degrees as of 6 a.m., with a wind chill feeling like minus 7, and a high temperature of 17 today.

- Tomorrow, for a change of pace, it will snow, probably an inch or two.

- Though we will see 30 degrees tomorrow and might break the freezing mark on Monday for the first time in a week, normal temperatures will continue to elude us.

- As far as forecasters can see â€" two weeks â€" below-average temperatures are predicted. “When we say ‘warm-ups’, we’re talking about mid to upper 20s,” said Joey Picca, a National Weather Service meteorologist. Normal high this time of year is 38.

- All this means more of the same woes that have plagued commuters all week. See details in the “Commute” section below.

- On the subways, that means a late start to express trains, because express tracks become makeshift indoor train yards when overnight temperatures drops to 10.

- On city buses, it means delays and detours.

- On commuter rails, particularly Metro-North, with its ancient overhead wiring system, it means periodic stoppages. During yesterday’s morning rush, a snapped wire interrupted service.

- “The wire gave out,” explained a spokeswoman, Marjorie Anders. “It failed. It got fatigue. It died and it broke. It’s 100 years old. It’s brittle.”

- There was an interruption last night on Metro-North that halted the whole railroad for two hours. But it was caused by computer problems, not weather.

- So far this morning, the railroad has mostly normal service. Knock wood and enjoy the weekend. Here’s what else is happening.

COMMUTE

Subways: Delays on the R. The C train is skipping some local stops in Manhattan. Check latest status.

Rails: Scattered delays on L.I.R.R. and North Jersey Coast Line. Check L.I.R.R., Metro-North or New Jersey Transit status.

Roads: No unusual delays. Check traffic map or radio report on the 1s or the 8s.

Alternate-side parking is suspended yet again for snow removal.

Weekend Travel Hassles: Check subway disruptions or list of street closings.

COMING UP TODAY

- Mayor de Blasio makes an announcement at City Hall at 11:15 a.m. (Live-streamed on nyc.gov.)

- Representative Carolyn Maloney and other officials attend a ceremony commemorating the 69th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz at the Museum of Jewish Heritage downtown. 11 a.m.

- City Council members call for Asian Lunar New Year to be made a legal holiday. 2 p.m. at the Queens library branch in Flushing.

- Last weekend for the Edgar Allan Poe exhibition at the Morgan Museum and Library. [$18, free tonight from 7 to 9 p.m.] …

- … While an exhibition on “The Little Prince” opens at the Morgan.

- The last weekend, too, for the “American Modern” show of paintings at the Museum of Modern Art. $20, free today from 4 to 8 p.m.

- Wholesome fun: a Brooklyn contra dance party at Camp Friendship in Park Slope. 7:30 p.m. [$15]

- The weekend-long One Act Play Festival begins in Long Island City. 8 p.m. [$15, $18 at door]

IN THE NEWS

- The 1978 jewel heist at Kennedy Airport immortalized in “Goodfellas” produced its first real-life arrest: a 78-year-old man linked by the authorities to the Bonanno crime family. [New York Times]

- Federal prosecutors in New Jersey issued subpoenas to Gov. Chris Christie’s re-election campaign. [New York Times]

- The Bronx is getting a new brewery. [Daily News]

- Scoreboard: Rangers fall to Blues, 2-1. Penguins top Islanders, 6-4.

THE WEEKEND

Saturday

- The Winter Jam sports festival in Central Park. Snow blowers will be on hand, as if that’s necessary. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. [Free]

- The annual Idiotarod race, in which dogs and sleds are replaced by humans and shopping carts. Location to be announced. Noon. [Free]

- Bring your snow rhino to a snow sculpture contest in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Noon to 2 p.m. [Free]

- The traveling show for kids about the Museum of Modern Art’s collection of African-American art comes to the Red Hook Recreation Center. 1 p.m. [Free]

Sunday

Sunday

- Make animal masks and hear tales of hibernating creatures at Wave Hill garden in the Bronx. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. [Free]

- Of all the strange things: Pro hockey outdoors in the winter. Rangers vs. Devils at Yankee Stadium. 12:30 p.m. [$93 and up]

- The Times’s Weekend Miser recommends the free tour of the Afrofuturism show at the Studio Museum in Harlem. 1 p.m.

- For more events, see The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide.

Joseph Burgess and Annie Correal contributed reporting.

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