Three Facts about New York City

Julie and I had a wonderful time in New York City last weekend. It has put us both a bit behind on our responsibilities back home so it has meant not a lot of time for blogging, sleeping, cleaning house etc. Here are three things I realized once I was able to see New York for myself:

1. Swinging From Webs is a Perfectly Legitimate Way to Get Around in Manhattan. There isn’t a square inch of New York that doesn’t have a three hundred foot tall building right beside it. Having been a fan of Spiderman since I was able to wear Underoos I had always wondered if this could really work? “Could Spiderman get everywhere just by swinging from building to building?”

“What does Spiderman do when there’s crime uptown? Or in Queens? Does he take the bus? Do they have some system worked out where Batman has a route and they leave the downtown for Spidey? No worries though, there are easily enough building for him to cover the whole place.

2. New York City is the most policed city I have ever seen. I have heard from friends that there are a total of six Niagara Regional Police cars on patrol each night in the entire Niagara region. By contrast, there was hardly a moment when I didn’t see six cops on any one corner in New York. Mounted police, cops on bikes, cops walking, cops driving SUVs, traffic cops, helicopter cops, New York as it all. The funniest thing I saw (cop related) was the aftermath of a Egyptian rally outside the UN building. There was supposed to be a big rally (temperatures well below zero dampened Egyptian enthusiasm) and the police were out in force. Check the pictures.

I lost count of cars over thirty. (I can count over thirty, I just lost track) There must have been a couple hundred police officers within a city block of the UN building alone. How can anyone manage to commit a crime in this city? Not to say that there isn’t crime in New York. I paid $14US for a salad, where were the cops then?

3. Bluetooth Cell Phone Devices Are Truly the Great Equalizer. There was a day when a person walking down the streets talking out loud was likely homeless, probably crazy. Not anymore. It seems everyone is wandering around talking out loud to people. Kinda made me feel like I was weird. I only talked to people that you can see.