Christmas in NY...

Christmas in NY observations to date...

The selling of Christmas trees on different corners with the focus on very small to small trees for apartment living and some larger ones. I saw people carrying home the larger trees, several on their shoulders and down to the street to their homes, some with two people - one holding each end - to their apartments, and one guy on a bike with this 5 ft tree strapped to his backpack. I wonder if he made it home?

Beautiful Christmas displays at Macey's for kids and kids at heart ( I loved it) and the store opens until 11 pm this week and 12 am next week. Many other stores are opening late as well.

More Christmas markets. Checked out the Columbia Circle christmas fair. Very nice as it is in front of Central Park and the new Time Warner building, which has high-end stores, including Williams Sonoma giving out free samples of their yummy hot peppermint hot cocoa. It was cold outside so this went down very well.

More people begging on subway cars and in stations and am not sure if it's because the holiday periods are especially difficult for the homeless and/or it's a nice warm place to hang out. Some use their creativity and musical skills to try to increase sales. At some locations, the NY subway system encourages buskers and has special areas for them (advanced booking gigs) and there is even a CD that has been produced with a variety of subway musicians. The range at the subway stations and on the subway cars is always interesting, from latin bands, Chinese musicians playing their traditional instruments, jazz musicians, and people just singing. On the subway this past week, one young woman brought her own sound system in a shopping cart and then belted out tunes as she went from one end of the car to another singing like a Fame musical and asking for donations. What an incredible voice! If she were in Ottawa, she would be already booked for a gig somewhere. There is so much talent and creativity in the city but also so much poverty and homelessness as it's an incredibly expensive city to live in and there's tough competitition to make it. However, as they say, if you can make it here you can make it anywhere. That's what our chefs say anyway in our courses about chefing in NYC.

Well, New Yorkers know that there is notorious bad service in NYC with a don't care attitude by most workers. I haven't noticed this much lately or perhaps I have just become numb during my time here. When I first visited NYC, I remember this being quite the shock for me and I was frustrated. Perhaps it's because this bad service is offset by excellent service in restaurants and for every rude and obnoxious person you also find kind people that help you. One thing for sure is that most New Yorkers develop a good sense of humour living in a city this size. When I was at the main post office on Saturday, there was the usual long line up of people with their Christmas packages to send. A guy came out in front of the line and yelled out, "Hello. My name is x. I'm a federal worker without an attitude and I am actually here to help you. " This had the people in the line laughing and one woman beside me said that this is especially true during the holidays as service and the service staff get even worse in attitude.