Writing a blog has been quite an eye-opener. From the Statistics on my Dashboard I know I have many more readers than those that have been kind enough to bother to sign up as Followers. I’ve received personal emails of encouragement which has been great, even if there hasn’t been a lot in the Comment boxes. I also know I have readers in Canada, Switzerland, India and Russia (!) who I’ve never met (Hello out there!) and I know, with some fascination, that some people follow me on their Blackberry. All of this is very flattering and encouraging.
Sadly, however, time moves on and with a body stuffed with turkey and a holiday to Guatemala fast approaching, not to mention a desire to spend more time on other projects, I’ve decided to give up the blog on a regular basis. The other side of this is, of course, that I am fast becoming acclimatized to dealing with the vagaries of living in NYC and the USA. Well, most of the time… I’m not particularly happy that grocery shopping here seems to be a contact sport, nor that tipping entails carrying around a load of One Dollar bills and a calculator. I’m certainly not happy about having to tell taxi drivers to get the hell off the phone nor that Customer Service is anything but: I have days with the phone on ‘speakerphone’ as I wait for a human being to replace inane music.
However, here are five things that absolutely scare the hell out of me about living in these United States:
1) That the result of “Dancing with the Stars” is considered important enough to be included on the 11p.m. news;
2) That some idiot calling himself ‘The Situation’ with a girlfriend called ‘Snookie’ can become an overnight multi-millionaire because there are enough other idiots out there wanting to see what they get up to on “Jersey Shore;”
3) That medical care is so convoluted and so expensive that many seniors can no longer afford the medications or procedures they need once they go on Medicare (though hopefully Obama has sorted some of that out) ;
4) That the infrastructure of the U.S., and NYC in particular, has been so lacking in investment that we are just basically waiting for bridges and tunnels to collapse or a major subway accident; compared to the Underground system in almost any major city in Europe we are on a par here with the Third World;
5) That someone whose total government experience is 6 years as Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, followed by 3 years of the governorship of Alaska—which she resigned to make money!—can even vaguely be considered a presidential runner. Sometimes I wonder what John McCain thinks of the Pandora’s box he opened up.
You’ll no doubt now want to know what I do like about living here. So:
1) It’s much more a 24/7 society than London and that availability of virtually anything you want at anytime is strangely comforting;
2) The variety of foods available is fascinating; you name it, New York has it;
3) New Yorkers have to pick up after their dogs with pooper scoopers so, while there may not be the many street sweepers we have in London, you are less likely to step into a dog mess;
4) There’s always something going on near you, be it a street fair or market, an outdoor concert or a parade;
5) And finally, yes, I have to admit it, the people are pretty damn wonderful. They’re friendly and open----even if a little bit crazy.
For now, adieu. But if you like, you can follow me on Twitter @andidowning. I’m limited to short spurts so it’ll take less time from your day J And thank you for reading!
