Wot no Flags!

July draws to a close, the air-conditioning is booming and I now know what it means to live in a super-city during a summer heatwave; hot being the obvious answer. My genius idea of running home from Harlem-125th to Midtown 2-3 nights a week has melted faster than the double chocolate sundae sandwich I haven't yet had from the 9th ave Creamery....(1,250 calories KABOOM, you can't believe they have to put the nutritional impact up on their boards by law!)

The heat has certainly been oppressive; sidewalks steamin', clothing down to a bare minimum and kids messing around with open water-hydrants in the southside Bronx (particularly like knowing the movies haven't lied to me on that last one). That said, most everywhere is air-conditioned so it's definitely manageable and the certainty of knowing that tomorrow is going to be a hot one is a novelty

All around, people looking half-dead, walking on the sidewalk hotter than a match-head

The month started out with the annual 4th of July public holiday, which as far as I could gather, signals the start of the middle-class exodus to the beaches beyond New York; the Hamptons, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and the famed "Shore" down in New Jersey. I ventured along to East Hampton out at the easternmost stretch of Long Island. Certainly the temporary denizens weren't short of money as some of the grand houses attested but I was expecting a pumping beach scene of which there was next to none on an overcast muggy day. The lobster roll helped me through but I'm pretty sure I'm missing something on that one so I'll leave comment for another day.

Back in the city, I made it down to a crowded 12th avenue alongside the Hudson to witness the annual Macy's 4th of July Firework display - a specatcular show of boom-booms lighting up the sky for a good length of the river

The atmosphere was very relaxed and friendly as I have come to expect from US communal events but two things struck me after half an hour scratching my head: 1. the smell of cordite standing there in my short-sleeves and 2. where were the flags? The only time we generally get to see fireworks back in the UK is in November so the opportunity to wear shorts, sandals and T-shirt at 10pm was gratefully received though it definitely threw me at first. The second element was not what I had expected at all, ready as I was for a display of American jingoism. Perhaps it's to do with the quantity of recent immigrants in New York but I only saw one or two star-spangled banners and the rendition of America the Beautiful by a group of college students was actually quite touching. As a Brit whose tea had all been chucked back at him more than 2 centuries ago, I can recommend the celebration.

The Third Way or Why New Yorkers Push Harder

What I’ve noticed over the past couple of weeks is that New Yorkers push harder, be it the playing fields of Central Park, the Midtown bars or the Lower East Side music joints. Perhaps I’m still in the honeymoon period but one can’t help but marvel at the energy and ambition coursing through this city’s being. 

There is certainly a strong sense of the self here with everyone having the right to follow his or her path, but rather less obvious is the community spirit prevalent to support this individualism; if you’re trying hard, we’re all behind you. The most obvious manifestation of this would probably be the ubiquitous “good job” which we tend to see through cynical eyes as unnecessary hyperbole but is actually somewhat of a feedback loop employed from a very early age to encourage their offspring. As a consequence, I would generalise and say that people here don’t tend to sit inert while the world passes them by but commit fully and either succeed or fail; failure at the very least bringing experience and hopefully resilience. It’s quite inspiring actually.

New Yorkers don’t just put their all into work but also play. I witnessed this first hand on a recent trip to Governer’s Island, a smallish clump of land a 10 minute ferry crossing from downtown Manhattan, where unawares I landed in the middle of a ‘Jazz Age’ festival on one of the lawns. I’d noticed a few girls dressed up like Tallulah in Bugsy Malone but hadn’t really twigged that this wasn’t just the latest trend given the amount of tattoo ink that went with the delicate dresses and headscarves.

The gusto with which the Americans take on their task of getting into the swing of things is full-on. I can’t envisage the same amount of effort going into a similar idea back in England. With prohibition ditties emanating from the rather superb Michael Arenella & His Dreamland Orchestra I felt like I'd landed on Jay Gatsby's lawn. Here's a sample of the atmosphere....

One dreamland snooze later, I returned to Manhattan Island to work out what drives New Yorkers to push harder....while I would love to pour scorn on popular opinion and tell you it is some higher purpose, I honestly think a lot of it boils down to the almighty dollar. I've overheard a number of conversations where he who makes the most money is generally considered to be the winner; the rich are venerated such that a 2007 poll of Wall Street bankers found that if there was a 50% chance of getting caught stealing $10 million, only 7% would do it but if the chance of getting caught were zero, this number jumped to a staggering 58% (New Yorker article on Raj Rajaratnam worth a read)

I also found an interesting article explaining some of the differences between the various cities in the US and how their ambitions differ - New York is money, LA is lifestyle, Boston is intellectualism and Silicon Valley is all about power. "Ambition is Critical"

For the most part, the sheer optimism is proving very inspiring and be it for money or something else, the energy is excellent