Harvard Hubbub : August 2015

By far the cheapest way to get to New York from Boston is on the Megabus. It takes 3 and a half hours and is highly recommended for the Boston -NYC leg. It is not so recommended for the NYC- Boston leg because that trip takes up to 5 hours ( due to the bus needing to stop at a weigh station) and the NYC bus terminal for Megabus consists of a side walk - it must be hell in winter.

I got to NYC mid afternoon and took the C subway up to upper Central Park near Harlem where Glenn ( my Harvard classmate) and his husband Kent live.

They have a nice but small apartment overlooking Central Park. As it is quite high up the island of Manhattan it is away from the crowds of midtown - a blessed oasis in the noise and tension of the Big Apple.

Glenn and I had dinner at a local Irish pub. Kent joined us after doing voluntary work downtown working with HIV LGBT. He works for Morgan Stanley. Glenn and I caught up on his news. He has been working with the NYC Mayor's department in their "innovation" division - a euphemism for marketing but not actually doing anything of substance. He is looking for other work. He was a director of transport planning in the NSW government so I am confident he will find something.

The next day we took a subway downtown to briefly view the 911 site and to then walk the Brooklyn Bridge. The day was bright and sunny and it was possible to clearly see the Statue of Liberty. After lunch and wandering along the newly built concourse on the Brooklyn side, we all declared that we had had enough walking in the heat and took the subway back to the apartment for naps. Kent and Glenn have two large Maine Coons (they think that is what they are - they were rescue cats) - Oscar and Jack.

They remind me of my own ginger kitties back home.

Charlie my kitty

Cobi my kitty

We headed down to Greenwich Village to have dinner with my mate Lauren - a NYC police officer whom I worked with on my Native American project. Lauren knows all the best places and she took us to this fabulous tapas restaurant called Alta. The front of the restaurant is a narrow brownstone, which surprisingly opens up into a large space that occupies the entire building.

The food was excellent. Next up was a visit to Maria's Crisis - a gay piano bar which plays show tunes, to which the crowd sings lustily along. We had many drinks there, thanks to a waiter who talked and acted like Harvey Fierstein.

Harvey Fierstein

Kent, Lauren and Glenn

Patrons standing around the piano (not in view)

The next morning, we ventured into Harlem for brunch. Harlem, like many other places, is being gentrified.

More naps and then back to the Village to meet Andrew Gill, another classmate and Lauren at a bar. We caught up on Andrew's news. Andrew is a banker and finding it tough to get a job. Many positions with the central banking authorities require American citizenship which Andrew as an Australian does not have.

Home to Thai takeaway and an episode of Cait - the show about Bruce Jenner adopting a female identity. It was surprisingly engrossing.

Up early to catch the first Megabus out of town. 5 hours later I was back at my apartment.

The above account does not convey just how difficult it is to live and work in NYC. It was exhausting negotiating the crowds, witnessing the frequent aggressive exchanges of people on the subway as temper frayed in the heat, and accepting that buying things like groceries is a day excursion involving subways and endless walking.

That said Glenn and Kent were fantastic hosts. They made me feel completely at home and NYC is a great city - albeit to be enjoyed in small doses.