The first 40 days

Wow, so being profilfic with this thing is proving tougher than I ever imagined. 4 posts in 3 months and not an update since we arrived is pretty appaling - especially as the whole point of starting this was to write about the NY transition which I’ve singularly failed to do. Regardless, here are initial learnings/reactions to the first 40 days in the city that never sleeps. 

1. The subway is awesome. Trains are frequent and efficient and…run all night. Transport for London, meet the MTA. you can learn a lot.
2. I was promised celebrities on every street corner when i moved here. We had to wait till last week to spot our first, Alan Cumming (the blue dude out of X-Men and the russian villain out of Goldeneye) at JFK. Tier 2 cried the sceptics. Regardless, it’ll do in the interim till i bump into Robert DeNiro. I have also walked past the filming of Nurse Jackie and some Nickleodeon crap. No celebs in sight tho
3. And while we’re talking film, I now have a cinema a block away. Nads and i have come to a great arrangement where i go to films on my own. Yet to be determined whether this makes me a loser.
4. New York’s parking lots have lifts (read elevators). I mean hydraulic lifts so you can stack cars on top of each other…they don’t have these in Stratford (or Chiswick)
5. There is a woman who lives in a bush round the corner from our apartment. You don’t get this in Chiswick either
6. You get to learn pretty quickly that the streets (East to West) are short while the avenues (North to South) are long. Ten street blocks barely takes you ten minutes on foot. Ten Avenue blocks will leave you wheezing
7. Yelp + iPhone = lifesaver. The last 40 days have revolved around eating and drinking and the standard has been consistently high
8. On the food theme, you can order anything, anytime, anywhere.
9. The fact we have a pool in the building is irrelevant and has had no impact on our fitness since we’ve been a paltry 3 times.
10. In an effort to mee people Nads and I have both signed up for evening classes. Nads is doing Arabic and I have joined a film class at NYU. No new best friends yet, but full of interesting characters. more on that later
11. I may have a special gift for beer pong
12. Chicago is a great city. Nothing to do with New York, but we’re just back from a fun weekend in the windy city (named after its politicians, nots its gusts of air i learned). Read Nads take on the weekend here.

In short, it’s been a fun first 6 weeks – both in and out of work – but there is A LOT more to see. 

No more dull top 12 lists tho i promise.

But more prolific updates.

Advertisement