The New York Narrative-Day 1

Thursday, November 5, 2009 8:40am

We've arrived in New York after a five hour flight, but I can tell you the airlines don't call late night flights red-eye's for nothing. Although I carefully chose our seats beforehand they must have changed the type of plane because we ended up sitting in the row just in front of the emergency exit door which meant our seats could not recline. It’s amazing how 3 inches of recline can make all the difference in the world to comfortable seating and sleep. Best friend, darling daughter and I watched movies and read to pass the time; snoozing was fitful.

One good thing though was that we had a tail wind that measured over 125 miles an hour so we were over a half hour early, arriving at 5:30 am instead of 6:05am. Since we are meeting our apartment manager between 9 and 9:30 we have plenty of time to kill. The five of us took our time getting our luggage and then a van taxi which dropped us off at a diner about two blocks from where we are staying.

The Metro Diner is everything that you've ever dreamed of if you are a Diner aficionado. The black and white checked floors, the red leather booths and neon signs added to the charm. Our very Italian male waiter was congenial and bright and cheery for the morning crowd. Some of the waitresses were not—they reminded us immediately of the rude stereotypical New Yorkers that you see often see on TV. Our Canadian friendliness and good manners in saying thank you when the food was brought was completely ignored and I have no doubt they could tell that we were not “locals”.

I think the most interesting thing was the number of fathers and their young school age children who popped in for breakfast. Because we live in the suburbs we’re used to seeing children and mothers walking to school up the tree lined streets instead of walking through bumper to bumper taxi lined streets or having breakfast in local restaurants. In this area known as Manhattan Valley there are a lot of children dressed in private school outfits, no doubt a reflection that this is an up and coming trendy area.

We prolonged our diner breakfast of eggs, hash browns, toast and bacon for as long as we could; and may I add, the meal came with 2 eggs and 5 strips of bacon! You would think that I would remember that one of the biggest differences between Canadian and American culture is the size of restaurant portions. I always promise myself that I’ll share next time. Unfortunately, I’ll get the hang of it by weeks end and then the next time we travel to the US I’ll forget and go through the whole process again.

Since we still have an hour and a half to kill we're sitting in a Starbucks we found up the street waiting until I can call the apartment management company to come and open the unit for us. This coffee shop is filled with locals and since the Yankees won the world series last night everyone seems to be in a very good mood and wearing something with the New York Yankee Logo. Things are a somewhat different from my home Starbucks; the biggest contrast is that no one chats to anyone else. You’ve got business people reading the newspaper, several university students doing homework or studying and a young Asian woman reading a New York Day to Day guidebook-she's obviously not local. Another middle-aged couple make an interesting pair; His day timer sits beside him and is obviously working on his laptop or at least checking his emails. She's dressed for business but reading the paper, and they've nary said a word to each other. Another business man sits working on something as he is writing notes on index cards and shuffling through them, obviously working up a presentation of some kind.

The quintessential young New York woman has just walked in; she young, hip and wearing the mini dress with grey opaque tights, flats, a shorty jacket with a well-draped scarf; I’ll have to point her out to Keeley as this will be one of Keeley's dream outfits. Then there is the our group which I'm sure make quite the interesting spectacle with our 5 suitcases and our red bleary eyes, especially since I’m typing on my laptop at times with my eyes closed. Everyone, is clearly in their own world and not willing to step outside of their insulated space.

I'm feeling ready for all of the excitement New York has to offer but I am also finding a certain security in being here in Starbucks. If I squint it looks very much the same as the one close to my home and I'm really finding it a comfort to have come to the other side of the continent and walk into a "familiar" place.

Salynne ©2009