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Once a New Yorker

I lived in Brooklyn and worked in the financial district of Manhattan during the 1987-1988 academic year. (Are there any other kinds of years?)  I went back last week for a musical gig. Here are some random observations.

I had missed the energy of Manhattan, how crowded the streets were, how everyone seemed to walk with purpose.  It is still there.

I'm always humble about "knowing" NYC since it is so huge and I tend to go to the same parts of it. This visit wasn't very different. I stayed in Newark to save on expenses but otherwise mainly went to parts of the city I had seen before.

I am still awed by travel time. NYC is big and it takes time to get from point A to point B.  Travel does not occur in a vacuum; the subways and streets are filled with people. When I took a Lyft the average speed was below 10 mph. Distance is not a meaningful metric; travel time is.

The city transportation works, at least for the parts that I go to. (Probably cause and effect mixed up there.) I felt very well-served by the trains and subways that I took.

If you use the trains and subways there are hundreds and hundreds of stairs each day. That in particular made me feel old; every night my legs ached from unaccustomed exercise.

Good food was expensive but very very good. Lots of good choices if I allowed time to travel.

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