Gotham
backtothefuture | 15. August 2011
As always, it was great being back in the “Capital of the World”. And as on my previous visits after I left the town and despite visiting this time four of the five borroughs I haven’t done many touristy things. I have been to Central Park a couple of times, to Midtown, to Brooklyn Heights, stayed in Queens and was briefly in the Bronx. Anyhow, compared with the “normal” visitor (what is normal?) I haven’t seen that much. For me staying in New York is about meeting my friends, maintaining the relationships and, maybe every now and then and slowly, making new friends.
There were some evenings which I might never forget: the night in Jimmy’s Corner with Marco drinking Beck’s and talking about life (one of these conversations I only make when I had more than one beer and feel really comfortable), the dinner invitation together with Amy and Patty at Giancarlo’s and Cassandra’s and there the introduction into the music of Van der Graaf Generator and the stories about the New Yorker punk and new wave music scene end of the 70’s, beginning of the 80’s, reconnecting with Yaryna in my old neighbourhood Upper West Side (strangely somewhat still feels like home), visiting my friends beautiful new home in Long Island (albeit still work in progress), catching up with my former, former, former boss Mike and eventually meeting his family, feeling very much welcome in the Sequeira family with two birthdays in one week, having a reunion with the staff of the old NY KRM office (Desiree, Ralf, Marco, we had tons of fun – I just say “Eurotrance”), meeting my friends Andrea, Barb, Ely, Katrina, Leah, and, and, and. I hope that I didn’t forget anyone!
It is also about the atmosphere and the friendliness (you wouldn’t think that about New Yorkers but it’s true) in the city when comparing it to London. Staying in Queens now for the third time I was on my way home occasionally the only non-asian, non-latino, non-afro-american, non-alien (did I forget anything) in a subway carriage full of people. When trying out my very, very basic, barely existing Spanish language skills the waitress in the colombian restaurant was polite and patient enough to put a good face on the matter. (In the next months it will all be about “can I practise my Spanish” instead of “can I practise my English”, hah.) Big cars, big houses, I reckon big business. And also small business. On two occasions and for the first time I noticed protesters demanding jobs, I guess another indicator for the downturn of the economy.
What feels a little odd is that life moves on but without me. I expect, no, not really expect, maybe wish that everything remains as it was when I left the city end of 2008. And this is, of course, wishful thinking. Friends are leaving the city or lose sight of each other, interests are changing, and new relationships develop. As everywhere else in life and maybe particularly here this has to be accepted, one has to adapt or otherwise would be spit out.
(BTW: I shot the photo above from my office window when I was working there)
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What to say – it was wet. When “carbo loading” was redefined with three pints beer together with my friend Yaryna the evening before. When getting up at 3:00 in the morning having a cab ride through the rain to the Upper West Side. When swimming 1.5 km in the swells of the Hudson having some good gulps of the river water. (Salty for those who are interested. BTW, a sewage facility five miles upriver burned down two weeks ago. Did I mention that perfect information is not always crucial?) When having the bike ride on the West Side Highway into the Bronx and back alternating heavy rain showers and steady rain. When running 10 km through Central Park sweat, sweat, sweat as the sun eventually came out. When celebrating crossing the finish line drinking even more water (an early sympton of overhydration is brain malfunction, many thanks for asking).
What shall I say – it was fun. With this minimum of training I invested I didn’t lose my dignity when finishing. (I actually expected the contrary and deferring this year’s start was a thought I moved around in my head more than once.) Katrina, another friend of mine, lent me her bicycle – many thanks, Katrina, awesome bike! The time is 17 minutes slower than last year, the preliminary ranking is five ranks better (86 vs. 91 in my age group in 2010 but with less competitors) and the overall result (e.g. total participants, total women) is in the 2010 range.
What more to say – it was dramatic. My friend Amy swam into a floating body not moving at all with its green face under the water (triathlon wetsuits provide plenty of buoyancy). She pushed the body to one of the kayaks close by supposed to protect the swimmers in case of an emergency. As we learned later this man and another woman died because of heart attacks. After the finish at the family reunion a mother almost went nuts when she ran up and down shouting for her three year old toddler and couldn’t find him. At least this story had a happy ending as also this family was reunited.