I went to NY on holiday and only ‘cos I don’t want to go to bed yet, I thought I’d write three positive and negative things about the place.
Positive
1. I think NY people (as London people) sometimes get a bad press, as not being particularly helpful or friendly. I don’t think this was true at all. Everyone I asked for directions or help, seemed only to happy to help out. I only saw two moody New Yorkers and they looked almost identical (and yet coincidentaly not identical). One in the hospital who tried to discharge herself, despite the fact she could barely walk, because she wasn’t being seen quickly enough. The other didn’t like the fact that the subway train was too busy for her liking. All in all, however, there was refreshing kindness from random people.
2. The subways are darn cheap (comparatively). A 7-day pass where you can use as much as you like is only $28 which is like £18 or something. Compare this to “The Tube” which (sans Oyster) is £5 for a single. Yes, the subway annoyingly didn’t have many maps; and yes, more adverts in Spanish than English (which is why I subway it); and yes, through no fault of the subways, I went in the wrong direction. Notwithstanding these points, total value for money.
3. It resides in a country which has the “Orthodox Union” which is a largely Modern Orthodox institution that doesn’t go out of its way to make it hard to be kosher. They don’t want to force you into a ghetto where you can only keep kosher by buying Snowcrest. No, they actively look to make everyday products suitable for use- “Philadelphia”, for instance (KLBD PLEASE?!?!?!?) Now I’m not so naive as to think it is purely altruistic motives- it makes them a lot of money and the scope is much bigger there than here. But still- ideology plays its part.
Negative
1. Bloody Bags. If anything will lead to believe in Richard Dawkins and “meme theory”, it is America’s attitude to bags. An idea virus has infected shopkeepers with the idea that it is essential to spread your shopping out over as many bags as possible. Even if you just buy a Chocolate bar, they try and put it in a bag. I had to actively persuade them not to give me bags. The sheer wastefulness (environmental and otherwise) is unbelievable and seems embedded in the NY psyche.
2. “Honkety Honkety Honk” could be the soundtrack song to the New York experience. It is not a very rhythmic song but is a loud one. Usually honking means “hello” or “stop being a bloody nutter”. One of the two. But the honking seemed to be utterly inexplicable. Sometimes I watched cars to see what the underlying rationale could be but discovered none. What’s more is the amount of money local government must have spent on empty threats. That is to say- all the signs that say people will get a $350 fine for honking- AS IF.
3. Too many Jews! Not that I’m a self-hating Jew (only occasionally so) but because there is nothing special about it. A) When I feel that I have done something wrong the previous day, I won’t wear my kippah the next day because I don’t feel I’m good enough to represent the Jewish people. In NY: saints and sinners, machas and child molesters, the sane and the mad, those with derech eretz and uncontrollable kids, all wear kippot. It’s the done thing with no thought to the moral worth it implies or the Chillul Hashem it may cause B) In a small community, you see another Jew on Shabbat and you greet him. Even if you don’t know him, it’s a sign of community, friendliness and something you automatically have in common. I tried wishing people “Shabbos” in Brooklyn and got the most dirty looks imaginable. There it is nothing to see another Jew and so they must have been thinking “Who the hell is this stranger talking to us?”
Undecided
Q. New York Skyline- beautiful or ugly as sin?
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