first month in NYC
After a month in the city I've accumulated some random observations:
• When it's windy it's also more dirty. I used to love windy days back home, but here tiny particles of grit fly everywhere and get into your eyes.
• It's more fun to ride the older subway cars than the newer ones because you don't get pre-recorded messages about stations, the direction of the train etc. On the older cars the conductor makes announcements themselves, and there's a wide range of styles and levels of clarity. One day before classes start Caitlin and I plan to get some lawn chairs and sit on the Penn Station platform and rate the conductors with placards like olympic judges.
• The city has a greater demand for electrical power than the infrastructure can provide. One of the reasons I'm posting this is because they anticipate a major blackout tomorrow when the tempurature rises and everyone turns up their air conditioners.
• Rich people throw away some pretty great stuff. On a couple of occasions the only thing keeping me from picking up a nice table or something is that it can't be easily carried on the subway alone. Caitlin and I just obtained a very nice little cupboard the other day from 73rd and CPW.
• Packaging. It's kind of crazy. Everything is wrapped or boxed, and then put in a plastic bag. I bought a pack of sponges the other day and mystified the clerk when I said I didn't need a bag. I've given up bringing the cloth bag to the local supermarket because it messes up their system (a sort of revolving carousel of plastic bag holders) and then they grumpily tell me to bag it all myself, which because there's nowhere to put anything is very awkward. I got groceries from another store and was given them in a paper bag inside two plastic bags. There appears to be a lack of public recycling bins, and little onus on domestic recycling.
• Subways run virtually all the time. Fan-fucking-tastic. I live near the express train and it's amazing. The cars are super air conditioned too: you could store your cold cuts in one, I'm pretty sure.
• I'm definitely having some minor Harlem culture shock. We come from very different worlds.
• Our complex's security guards, as I've overheard, are "just here for the white folk". The other night some kids spray painted love notes in fluorescent green paint, 3' from where the guards are stationed.
• Living in the same city as your girlfriend is pretty great, I think I'd forgotten just how good it is.
That's all for now, hope that wasn't too dull. Pictures will turn up soon.
• When it's windy it's also more dirty. I used to love windy days back home, but here tiny particles of grit fly everywhere and get into your eyes.
• It's more fun to ride the older subway cars than the newer ones because you don't get pre-recorded messages about stations, the direction of the train etc. On the older cars the conductor makes announcements themselves, and there's a wide range of styles and levels of clarity. One day before classes start Caitlin and I plan to get some lawn chairs and sit on the Penn Station platform and rate the conductors with placards like olympic judges.
• The city has a greater demand for electrical power than the infrastructure can provide. One of the reasons I'm posting this is because they anticipate a major blackout tomorrow when the tempurature rises and everyone turns up their air conditioners.
• Rich people throw away some pretty great stuff. On a couple of occasions the only thing keeping me from picking up a nice table or something is that it can't be easily carried on the subway alone. Caitlin and I just obtained a very nice little cupboard the other day from 73rd and CPW.
• Packaging. It's kind of crazy. Everything is wrapped or boxed, and then put in a plastic bag. I bought a pack of sponges the other day and mystified the clerk when I said I didn't need a bag. I've given up bringing the cloth bag to the local supermarket because it messes up their system (a sort of revolving carousel of plastic bag holders) and then they grumpily tell me to bag it all myself, which because there's nowhere to put anything is very awkward. I got groceries from another store and was given them in a paper bag inside two plastic bags. There appears to be a lack of public recycling bins, and little onus on domestic recycling.
• Subways run virtually all the time. Fan-fucking-tastic. I live near the express train and it's amazing. The cars are super air conditioned too: you could store your cold cuts in one, I'm pretty sure.
• I'm definitely having some minor Harlem culture shock. We come from very different worlds.
• Our complex's security guards, as I've overheard, are "just here for the white folk". The other night some kids spray painted love notes in fluorescent green paint, 3' from where the guards are stationed.
• Living in the same city as your girlfriend is pretty great, I think I'd forgotten just how good it is.
That's all for now, hope that wasn't too dull. Pictures will turn up soon.
posted by Mike at 5:50 AM
1 Comments:
Yeah. Everything in bags. I also find that when shopping, when I say my usual, "No thanks, I've already got bags," they get all offended. Because I am putting their precious merchandise inside a bag that advertises another store. The advertizing here is what really kills me. I have days when it feels like we live inside a giant mall and the only point of any urban city is to spend.
Also, the coffee in bags. What's with that? My coffee already has a container, it's called a cup. It's really difficult to carry coffee in a bag but they do it every time. And the coffee in a bag always comes with napkins. Maybe incase I spill it all over myself while trying to carry it in a paper bag?
Living in the same city as my boyfriend is also pretty great. And not just the same city...
Oh. And did you ever think that perhaps the spray painters were white? And so the "security guards" had to let them do as they pleased? Oh god, now I'm going to get shot.
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