Random, Random 2.0

[Fastbackss]

Although I am a sucker for a tiny village

"Welcome to TAT2"

[ponchi101]

...

"Welcome to TAT2"

Hamlet. We are a hamlet

[JazzNU]

I love love love NYC at Christmas time.

[mmmm8]

I generally don't, I work close to that tree, navigating the streets is a nightmare and the only good time to see the lights is after 10 pm, but some of them shut off.

Yes, yes, I'm a jaded cynical NYer. This year might be better with fewer tourists.

[ti-amie]

I used to work on 3d ave and 50th street and would get the early express bus downtown on 5th. If you're up and about about 7a is very good too. I also used to take my daughter about 7p and start walking at Berdorf's. Their windows at this time of year are amazing.

You're 100% correct about the tourist mobs though. I'm not a fast walker and yet their slow pace - packs of them - drove me up the wall.

[ponchi101]

So now, your crazy city is crazy because of US TOURISTS???!!!!
You people are used to it. It is simply very difficult to be a tourist in NYC and not keep constantly looking up at the wall of buildings on both sides. I gather in Xmas the lights and decorations must be so over the top (when compared to other cities) that for tourists it must be very difficult to keep the semblance of a local person.

[ti-amie]

So now, your crazy city is crazy because of US TOURISTS???!!!!
You people are used to it. It is simply very difficult to be a tourist in NYC and not keep constantly looking up at the wall of buildings on both sides. I gather in Xmas the lights and decorations must be so over the top (when compared to other cities) that for tourists it must be very difficult to keep the semblance of a local person.

Y'all just make it very hard to get from one place to another! NYC has a pace and tourists just, to use a British term, throw a spanner into it.

[JazzNU]

So now, your crazy city is crazy because of US TOURISTS???!!!!
You people are used to it. It is simply very difficult to be a tourist in NYC and not keep constantly looking up at the wall of buildings on both sides. I gather in Xmas the lights and decorations must be so over the top (when compared to other cities) that for tourists it must be very difficult to keep the semblance of a local person.

I'm not sure they are all that much more over the top compared to other big cities here, but there tends to be more of everything in New York, so the effect is a bit more substantial. It's not just Rockefeller Center, though that is wonderful, and I especially love the angels, the effect it creates leading to the tree is beautiful. But many stores put forth effort to decorate their windows and their stores, going up Fifth Ave and walking into your preferred store was a must, and the roasted chestnut smells as you're walking around are great.

Looking up at buildings is rare for me. But I probably don't fall into the tourist category when in New York. Less tourist, more visitor. I feel bad for the suckers (likely real tourists) who don't know what's up at Penn Station with the announcements, immediately behind the eight ball and have no idea that they are until it is much too late. The holidays in particular are a blood sport at Penn Station. I know how to get around, know how to handle cabbies, have favorite parts of the city, have favorite places to go, etc. But it's also why I say I love New York during Christmas time, I know it at other times, and I do love it then too*, but this time of year is my favorite there.


*It's somewhat possible, I may have been cursing New York's existence while sitting in non-rush hour gridlock in the Bronx trying to get to the GW Bridge less than a month ago.

[ti-amie]

Ha. Native NY'ers rarely look up at the buildings. As for non rush hour gridlock trying to get to the GWB us natives are known to have let a few bad words fly.

[ti-amie]

This is here because it's a spoof account. Still, the topic is real and should be part of the discussion on abortion in the US since we seem to be the only country trying to go back to the 40's when it comes to women's health.

If you don't know what a "pitch" is it's when, in this case, you go to your editor and tell them that this is a story you want to work on. The NYTimes has gotten so bad lately that someone started this spoof account to try and highlight just how bad they've become.

[ponchi101]

That was brilliant

[mmmm8]

So now, your crazy city is crazy because of US TOURISTS???!!!!
You people are used to it. It is simply very difficult to be a tourist in NYC and not keep constantly looking up at the wall of buildings on both sides. I gather in Xmas the lights and decorations must be so over the top (when compared to other cities) that

for tourists it must be very difficult to keep the semblance of a local person.

I know, when I think about it, I'm not mad, it's nice that they gawk at where I live and work. But, in the thick of it, my thought are more violent.

There are lots of European tourists again. I'm currently more weary of the Americans, since the Europeans have to be vaccinated. They're also more likely to not know how to walk on sidewalks.

[mmmm8]

This is here because it's a spoof account. Still, the topic is real and should be part of the discussion on abortion in the US since we seem to be the only country trying to go back to the 40's when it comes to women's health.

That's not true, sadly. Poland and Slovakia are two that are at the forefront of this unvaliant fight and some countries never left the 19th century.

[ponchi101]

Latin America is still discussing it. It is the typical hypocritical mentality here: it is not legal, it is not covered, it is easy to find.
But remember places like El Salvador, firmly in the grip of the Church in those aspects. Women can go to as long as 30 years to prison for an abortion, which is considered murder.

[MJ2004]

Google is having a pizza moment.