The Big Apple.

New York has risen in my consciousness and estimation of late. It’s all because of people, you see, which is what it should be all about.

I went to New York once, when I was very young, so I got to thinking about what I remember. Here’s the list:

I remember the walk from the docks to Times Square, and I remember the walk back to the docks late at night and being told I was lucky to have survived.

I remember the thermometer on Times Square giving 80-something degrees at eleven o’clock at night, because it was July.

I remember walking past Yankee Stadium and being unimpressed because baseball was a complete mystery to me.

I remember visiting Wall Street and being unimpressed because it was just a load of grey buildings.

I remember going into a bar where the barmaid was wearing a bunny girl costume, and thinking how silly she looked.

I remember going to Greenwich Village and seeking out the ‘English Pub,’ and thinking how ridiculous it was that we should have travelled 3,000 miles, only to go looking for something that reminded us of home.

I remember going into Central Park and being impressed by the skyline. It reminded me of a Christmas song that I’d become fond of – Frank Sinatra singing ‘I’d trade that whole Manhattan skyline, the shimmering steel and chrome, for one old fashioned Christmas…’

I remember going into the United Nations Building, and sitting in the Security Council chamber where a boring English diplomat gave us a boring lecture about heaven-knows-what.

I remember a New York cop reprimanding me for jay walking, and me explaining that such a law was incomprehensible to an Englishman.

I remember taking a subway train to Queens, just for the experience, and thinking that the New York subway wasn’t as easy to use as the London Underground.

I remember looking down on Macy’s from the observation deck of the Empire State Building and thinking ‘Wow!’

Hey, ho. The reason I love you now, New York, is because of the people. Here’s to the Stay Puffed Marshmallow Man.