While you were sleeping...

...on the other side of the world here I was walking over the Brooklyn Bridge at dusk with Mitch, on my way to see the Brooklyn Philarmonic play at a park under the bridge. It was so low key, nothing like the hipster glamster Summer Stage crowd at Central Park. Its bizarre that Brooklyn is a world away mentally, even though its only a 15min walk across the bridge. Kinda like venturing off map 58 of the Melways and going to Smith St, or Williamstown, or dare I say it, Flemington. In New York most of the people wearing NYC t-shirts are tourists or from Queens or the Bronx, the people wearing Brooklyn t-shirts are all from Brooklyn.

We had our wine and cheese and watermelon, caught up on years of relationships, travel and jobs, and listened to the classics, then walked back to the city in the dark. People were still streaming across the bridge: joggers, cyclists, tourists, downtowners. The Chrysler building, Empire State and Woolworths building were all lit and glimmering, the Verazzano Bridge was twinkling in the distance marking the path to New Jersey, the Statue of Liberty's humble torch shone: it was postcard stuff. I got that 'I'm so far from home' thrill that is making this experience so stimulating.

At 12am its still 23c: every night has been balmy. I wasn't expcting this boon. The days are clammy and the nights are sultry. I love it. You can wander around in a t-shirt the whole time. By the time I've walked my 15 mins to walk in the morning I'm sticky and preying to the baby powder gods to do their magic. I know how pale you're all getting. I've seen the photos. I'll be there in a couple of months, when it drops below zero for weeks at a time, and I'll be suffering. Will banish the thought for the moment...and investigate flights to the Caribbean.



A former work colleague said to me before I left "New York is a great place to experience intensity", and I think that sums it up perfectly. When I'm in my apartment I could be anywhere: the tv is the same (except for the intrusive pharma ads and the non-sensical other commercials), the fittings are familiar (if over-sized) and I've found food that is not so different from my diet at home (except for The Incident), but as soon as I step out into the street I'm hit with New York again: a kaleidoscope of accents, tight bright clothes and bland separates from Gap, dyed, permed, straightened hair and wigs and braids and dreads and afros and lots of bald heads (women and men), suited smoking car drivers lounging by their black sedans, sweaty hot dog and halal gyro sellers on the street corners, gunning taxis, lumbering kneeling buses, tinted SUVs, obese tourists with their ankle socks and white sneakers, couriers pushing Fedex trolleys around the streets like 19th century messenger boys in Anna Karenina, UPS trucks in convoy, NYPD wearing shorts and do rags, homeless people collecting cans, Ralph Lauren types with their collars up and driving shoes on...the passing parade is fascinating. This city is full of spunks and freaks.

Its the same at work. I am at my computer Visio'ing away and then I wander to get a cup of tea and remember that I am in America: there is 4 types of sweetener, 6 types of herbal tea and various cup sizes in the mini kitchen, and someone is having the loudest conversation ever on their cell phone ("You di'int! Oh girl I'm feeling you.") while waiting for their sushi/burrito/bagel/burger to be delivered from next door.

I feel like I don't really have time to go to work. There' so much other stuff to see and do. Sales, musuems, cafes, neighborhoods, I haven't even wandered around the streets near my office yet, or been to the other 3 boroughs yet or played with all the widgets on my iPhone yet (oh hang on, yes that was Sunday, Monday & Tuesday nights). But I did find time to join the library, and I have found a Scrabble night next Wednesday at the Neutral Ground Gaming Centre. I obviously need Jus's cool influence.

BTW Korovians: I met up with Janet Brunckhorst in DC and went out for a drink to Georgetown, which is so quaint I nearly teared up. She's getting married tomorrow! Our goldilocks in black is going to live happily ever after!