Yes, I am a self-proclaimed honorary New Yorker and it pisses me off that the majority of people who'll come to the hustling, busting city will leave without really discovering the most beautiful and loveable things about it. When you really love something, you'll find yourself loving the good, the bad and the ugly. New York is like a person to me, with the most bizarre, infectious personality you could ever imagine.
I've decided to list off a handful of my favourite things about New York. Note to reader: this is in no particular order. In fact, i'm half tempted to number them all, one.
1. The elderly people: You do NOT want to piss off an elderly person in NYC. They are just as protective of their city, as they are of themselves. If you're caught littering, loitering, cussing etc. You will get a whip across the shins with a cane and a stern talking to from at least one octogenarian passer-by. I've witnessed this in the streets and on public transport, many times. It is a spectacle.
1. The uptown dog-walkers: There are these guys who make their living from walking dogs for the rich, famous, lazy, busy, dog-health crazy.. however you want to brand them... and if you go for a walk any more than half a dozen blocks, you are bound to see one of these chappies pacing the sidewalk with anything between 4 and 12 dogs in tow. Their ability to manage up to a dozen giddy, personality filled, attention demanding diva-dogs, never ceases to amaze me. If you're lucky, and you catch of of them taking a water break, they are usually more than happy to let you come up and say hello.
1. Sheep's meadow: This is a field within Central Park, that is one of my favourite places to go in the summer, chill out and people-watch. There is NO WHERE in the world (that I have found, so far) better than Central Park to people-watch - my favourite perch is by Bethesda Fountain. Sheep's meadow is great for this, but its real perk is the friendly atmosphere - you will more than likely be approached at least once by a group playing ultimate frisbee, football, keepie-uppies and asked if you'd like to join in: this usually leads to the following: a) conjoining of beachtowels/blankets with these once-upon-an-hour-ago-strangers to form a giant social blanket network; b) banter over beers/mojitos provided by the one-man-mobile-bar circling Sheep's Meadow with his cart full of ice-cold booze; and c) an invite to a house-party and bar crawl around the Village later in the evening, where you'll undoubtably make at least half a dozen new friends, add them on facebook and see them the following week for more post-ultimate frisbee mojitos.
1. The crazy people: You know when you feel like you are losing the plot completely? That no one else in the world is as mental as you..? We've all been there. There is always someone crazier than you walking the streets on NYC. ALWAYS. And they are only too happy to make their craziness known. I for one, find this refreshing.
1. The normality of seeing a famous person: When grabbing your morning coffee/bagel/juice, or going for a run/workout, it's rather likely that you'll jog by a sweaty Alec Baldwin or Natalie Portman, brush shoulders at the traffic lights with Willem Dafoe, Matthew Perry or Maggie Gyllenhaal, or order the same filling as Tina Fey in that local jewish bagel haunt you love (mine is on the corner of 79th and Amsterdam). But, really, for whatever reason, it never tends to be a huge deal.
1. Access to everything 24 hours a day, all day: Whatever you need, whenever you need it, there is someone who will bring it to you for a price, which may or may not be negotiable. (Or legal.)
1. Mocking the richies: There's no shortage of stupid rich people to make fun of.
1. The F-Bomb is more like the F-hiccup: Yelling "fuck" is just a mild obscenity, if you want to get more attention from passers by you'll need to go past verbal action and bring out the big guns. Not literally of course. That wouldn't be favourable, but unfortunately is a common occurrence.
1. Drunk Drivers are non-existant: There is absolutely no reason to ever drink and drive. Added bonus: Spontaneous, fascinating conversations with cab drivers.
I have a heap more number 1's I could add to this list, but it's late and I've now got a hankering to plan some bits for my next trip to the second home later this year, when i'll be running the NYC Marathon for the very first time. Can't think of another city in the world i'd rather run around until I feel like crying/dying/melting.
B
