I went to NYC (for the 5th time) and back

From Los Viajes de un Culo (The Flying Bottom)

Arrive in New York, there was a blue sky, and the weather wasn’t warm.

I stay in a building that was very high, with a concierge at the entrance and many delivery packs, place on top of a table that was by his side.

He was the guardian of the packs.

The elevators were fast, we were on the 19th floor with an ample view of the city skyline.

The space was small and the rent very high. The laundry was done on the 22nd floor.

Cooking was not nice, as it smells the whole flat, the bathroom furniture was bad and the electricity bills too high, as the brand-new building energy rating was D+.

We went for a visit to another big building with very small flats,

the rent was even “more high”,

and there was a swimming pool and a climbing wall, a gym and a massage facility where you could spend even more, a fancier laundry room and another guardian of the packs.

No greenery was to be found, no plants or flowers, no bushes or potted greens, no roses in vases or a photo of such.

Outside in the streets is always a bit dark, as the buildings are so high the sun never reaches your path.

The streets are always wet because of lack of sun, there is always rubbish and a few rats. Wrapping papers and other craps decorate the streets, the traffic is bad, the streets look more like a parking as the lines of cars are always stopped, and always horning, as if the noise will make them move fast.

The food is served in paper plates and youre giving plastic fork and knife and water in small bottles made from plastic, -but you could buy an overprice bottle to be refill from the bigger plastic bottle of water you buy at home-.

In the morning people look sad, tired already as they order breakfast at the Deli, also served in a plastic wrap and a plastic knife all in a plastic bag.

I am out and once again, the traffic is bad, the roads get blocked by drivers who wants to catch a green light, the noise is bad, the trains run up high, the metal scream, please take me to the countryside.

They have a big park with expensive flats, a fancy street and a museum or two.

I hear incredible musicians playing in the streets, hoping to get a few notes on their plastic cup, I run into a march, but it was a tourist trap, the hot dog was nice, although I didn’t try.

Everyone runs fast, even in the fancy hills, some dress very nice other just as they can.

Some stand on the street and pose, and other takes a shot, other pick up the trash, they left behind. One has many likes the other has none.

I visited PS1 and it was old New York on show, the time when many could afford to live in, not like now, when just a few can be in.

So nostalgic I got, of a time I didn’t even know, of I period is not my own, I just felt how it is to live in a city, when everyone is allowed.

I left New York, empty pockets and cold, I am happy to fly, as the traffic was, still, bad.