Small things I learned about America from New York

I’m just back from honeymoon in New York, and to be honest I’m glad to be back. It wasn’t a bad experience, just a tiring one, and we saw most of what we wanted to anyway so by the end we were quite happy to be on the plane home.

Now I’m guessing the few notes below won’t apply to the whole of America since we only stayed in one city, but because it was our only experience, I’m going to pretend they do.

• For a start I was expecting tons of greasy diners stacking your plate inches high with food, but instead got a mixture of great Italian, Thai, Chinese, French and American restaurants that served large but not colossal portions. We did find a nice diner just up the road from our hotel that did the best burger I’ve eaten in years and a delicious eggs benedict for breakfast.
• You will get a free glass of iced water in every restaurant by default, and most will top it up as it goes down.
• When it’s the ‘Walk’ symbol (Green Man) cars can still turn right on the inside of the junction – incredibly, drivers are very polite about this, we weren’t beeped or revved at once to hurry up and I didn’t see it happen to anyone else either – but it can still give you a fright until you get used to it.
• On the subject of frights, I was constantly on edge with the amount of car horns going off. Over here, someone sounding their horn means DANGER! i.e. someone nearly caused an accident by doing something really, really stupid (either another driver or pedestrian) or someone has been sat at a green light for more than the accepted “I’ll give them four seconds to notice it”. Over there car horns went off for not pulling away immediately, for changing lanes in front of someone including pulling over (not helped by some roads not having lane markings, so you have to guess I suppose), for being slow at anything and sometimes just for being there. For a Brit used to horns going off only for emergencies that cause everyone in the street to stop and look as their hearts leap into their mouths, this caused me much more anxiety than I had anticipated. Having said that, even though I saw some crazy driving, I didn’t see any accidents.
• All the curbs (kerbs) had metal edging, which was a bit weird, but didn’t detract from the overall holiday experience.
• News items don’t last longer than a minute on any news channel we watched, so there’s no real discussion about events. The presenters rattle through their list at a brisk pace because no-one wants to be late for the next five minute ad break in every ten.
• They have a serious Margarita fetish – almost anywhere sells them and they have posters on the walls telling you about it.
• No-one was rude, just very direct with information – not like you’re an idiot for not knowing, just bemused that you don’t.
• I can get sun-burn.

I also got served a hot dog in Grand Central Station by a really grouchy guy and his panicking Hispanic assistant which was quietly hilarious to watch.

His reaction when I handed him a $50 note was priceless: that hang-dog head shake and sigh as if he’d finally come to terms with losing all his life’s possessions in a fire, the slow rifling through his wallet, all the notes then laid out on the counter next to him and the deliberate “I broke into a fifty for ya.” when he gave me my change.

Then when the first dog was ready: “It’s this guy here, give it to him and just calm the heck down.” as the flustered Hispanic lady, trying to hurry through the food orders (it wasn’t even that busy) couldn’t find me at the ‘delivery’ side of the stand.

I continued to wait there while she prepared the second one, only for the guy to thumb over to the other side saying: “You stand over there, it’s easy!”. Of course, the woman hadn’t noticed I had moved so got in a panic when she couldn’t find me standing where I was the last time. The grouchy owner said “He’s over there!” and pointed me out, and she ran over crying “Oh my God!” and shaking her head in despair.

That kept me amused all day and took my mind off my aching legs.

The hot dog was great too 🙂