08 Jan 2012, Posted by admin in Thoughts, No Comments. Tagged america, anecdotal, Olayinka, Thoughts

In NY Anything Goes…

Words by Olayinka

Last year I boarded a US Airways flight in denial about moving back to the U.S. after spending a little over four years in London.  After making my way home from the airport, I quickly decided to move to NYC.  Figuring my move to NYC would help ease the culture shock I was facing with my relocation.

I spent one week home in Philadelphia, PA looking for a job and an apartment in NYC.  The following week I moved to Fort Greene, Brooklyn crashing on my friend’s sofa while continuing my apartment and job search.

After spending a week at my friend’s apartment I moved to Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn and my life in NYC officially commenced! One thing that I’ve noticed is that anything goes!  Through my time in New York I’ve experienced many ventures around town and have witnessed and smelled many strange things!

Where else can you witness a passenger aka suit using the train hand rails as a jungle gym; witness staged train brawls amongst youngsters during the morning rush hour; see a ‘Live Poultry’ and ‘Seafood Supermarket’ next door to each other; and finally witness a twenty-something year old man laying on a hammock in the middle of the East Village (Astor Place), turning NYC into his urban oasis.

There is definitely an element of truth behind the common expression, ”Only in NY!”  I’ve noticed a common theme with all of my interesting encounters… no one reacted.  It seems as though bizarre behaviour is the norm for New Yorkers.

I now pose the question, why do certain major cities attract the crazies?  (Surely there is some strange behavior in London but generally speaking Britons tend to be very reserved).