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New York, New York, It's a Wonderful Town
Mar. 6th, 2020 09:18 amLong time friends (from my White Collar days) know that I am a native New Yorker who absolutely loves her city. I don't live in NYC, but I visit frequently (although less frequently these days).
I can remember the time when you walked quickly to your destination and tried not to pay too much attention to other people, which gave the city a reputation for being cold and cruel, one that lingers to this day. I think that amidst the bad fiscal management and the high crime rates (which were endemic to all big cities at the time), '70s era New York became a target for everything that is wrong with urban societies.
These days, New York has an infinitesimal crime rate - although horrific crimes still happen - and its problems stem from too much wealth held by too few people. But by and large, the people of New York are wonderful and lovely.
The past few weeks, I've been taking a professional development course at a community college in Long Island City, which is in the far western end of Queens (one of the five boroughs of New York City) and the last stop before Manhattan (the Queensboro end of the 59th Street Bridge is about 500 yards from the campus). I've been driving there because commuting by train would take about 3 hours each way given the amount of waiting I'd have to do. The college campus is urban, meaning that there is no place to park, except on the street.
That means one thing. Parallel parking on an active and narrow street.
I've gotten pretty good at it, but I'm better parallel parking on the right side than the left. It's weird, I know, but it's just the way it is. So of course, the only available spot yesterday was on the left side of the street and while the space was plenty big, I just couldn't get into it.
There were two guys talking on the sidewalk near the spot and one of them calls out to me, "Let me help." Took him about two minutes to guide me perfectly into the spot, and when I thanked him, he smiled and said that he just hates to see people struggle.
When I finally get out of my car to purchase parking, the guy getting into a car a few vehicles behind me offers his parking meter receipt so I wouldn't have to buy my own.
Unfortunately, he only had about an hour left and I needed about three hours, so I had to buy more time and as I'm waiting for the machine to process the payment, a car pulls into a tiny spot in front of me and is struggling to get in without hitting anything. I give him a bit of help, because that's what we New Yorkers do.
We are the kindest people in the world, if you were wondering.
I can remember the time when you walked quickly to your destination and tried not to pay too much attention to other people, which gave the city a reputation for being cold and cruel, one that lingers to this day. I think that amidst the bad fiscal management and the high crime rates (which were endemic to all big cities at the time), '70s era New York became a target for everything that is wrong with urban societies.
These days, New York has an infinitesimal crime rate - although horrific crimes still happen - and its problems stem from too much wealth held by too few people. But by and large, the people of New York are wonderful and lovely.
The past few weeks, I've been taking a professional development course at a community college in Long Island City, which is in the far western end of Queens (one of the five boroughs of New York City) and the last stop before Manhattan (the Queensboro end of the 59th Street Bridge is about 500 yards from the campus). I've been driving there because commuting by train would take about 3 hours each way given the amount of waiting I'd have to do. The college campus is urban, meaning that there is no place to park, except on the street.
That means one thing. Parallel parking on an active and narrow street.
I've gotten pretty good at it, but I'm better parallel parking on the right side than the left. It's weird, I know, but it's just the way it is. So of course, the only available spot yesterday was on the left side of the street and while the space was plenty big, I just couldn't get into it.
There were two guys talking on the sidewalk near the spot and one of them calls out to me, "Let me help." Took him about two minutes to guide me perfectly into the spot, and when I thanked him, he smiled and said that he just hates to see people struggle.
When I finally get out of my car to purchase parking, the guy getting into a car a few vehicles behind me offers his parking meter receipt so I wouldn't have to buy my own.
Unfortunately, he only had about an hour left and I needed about three hours, so I had to buy more time and as I'm waiting for the machine to process the payment, a car pulls into a tiny spot in front of me and is struggling to get in without hitting anything. I give him a bit of help, because that's what we New Yorkers do.
We are the kindest people in the world, if you were wondering.
