Few things surprise me in N.Y. Maybe the guy in the subway last week who, unlike the normal beggars, claimed to have been tortured by the CIA. But last night a thunderstorm hit upper Manhattan that devastated half of Central Park. Dozens, maybe scores, of trees six- and seven-stories high were lying across the road. Cyclists and runners on their morning ritual were standing next to these 100-year-old giants just gaping. This isn’t the kind of thing that happens in New York. New York is orderly (except for the odd shooting, robbery, mugging and siren every five minutes). Roads were closed off, park employees were scrambling to cut up the trees and clean up the branches. I thought of Africa, then, and how this kind of thing happens all the time. Nice to see Mother Nature hasn’t forgotten Manhattan.