Does NY want us?

Our favorite bookstore is closing. That is Murder Ink and its companion, Ivy Books. They are located on Broadway and 94th Street, or thereabouts. The Murder Ink is of course the mystery store. Mrs. Bubba bought alot of mysteries there the past 3 years. I enjoyed seeing what they would put out and recommend, and I enjoyed chatting with the employees, or petting the old dog. We tried to buy all our Christmas books there, but we did some Barnes and Noble shopping as well, just too easy to ship back to Texas. But alas they can't afford increasing rents, so they are closing the doors.

That is a little how the Bubba's feel. But while the NY Times featured the closing of the bookstore in its Sunday "City" section, there will be no mention of the Bubba's moving out of the city in the NY press. More and more the local resturants, book stores, and curiosity shops are closing. Manhattan looks like a big suburban mall, all the same chain stores. But what is more alarming to us is Manhattan is becoming a place for the rich only. We did alright without child, but now with child we can no longer afford our 1 bedroom and child care. Remeber that we are professionals, licensed engineers, it's not like we're waiting tables. When the average bonus for the Goldman Sachs folks is 800,000 dollars, there is just not room for us. Sad really. I feel for NY, as it has "recovered" from the dark 70's, but it faces another crisis now, it is losing it's identity and becoming a enclave for the rich and famous.

If you read the previous post you might think I'm conflicted on my views of NY. You're right.

Visting NY

I had the day off today, so I went down towards work and met Mrs. Bubba for lunch, then went to get my haircut at Astor Place. I decided to walk back to 7th Ave to the subway instead of doing a subway switch. I was walking through Washington Square Park and noticed some tourist standing there taking in the park. It got me thinking about visiting NY. These folks will probably spend 10 minutes in Washington Square Park, take a picture, then move on. Then they will tell everyone they went to Washington Square Park. But did they? Mrs. Bubba and I used to work a short walk from there and on Friday's, especially in the summer, we would walk down to the park after work and sit and relax before we went out to dinner or met friends, or whatever we had planned for that Friday night. Mrs. Bubba is not as big of a fan of this particular spot as I am. But it's a nice spot to sit, talk about the week, watch the various people walk by: students at NYU, rich Village folks, freaky people, and generally a street performer and some war protestors. I've come to love the place, now mainly because I remember those Friday summer evenings when we would sit and and be amazed we lived in Manhattan, thought of what we'd do next in our lives, and then look forward to our Friday evenings. Surely those tourist haven't visited Washington Square Park like we have.

When folks come to visit us I generally make them go to Central Park as well. We walk them through the highlights, taking an afternoon. But I don't think anyone is as impressed as they should be. Why? Well, Central Park is our front yard, our back yard. It's where we go to see flowers bloom in the spring, to escape the hot concrete in the summer, and to see the foliage in the fall. When it snows it's the place we go to see snow, as the streets are swept in Manhattan almost immediately. Central Park is what makes NYC livable. It's our favorite part of NYC. I love it in the winter, when it is cold, and no one is around.

I understand what it is to be a tourist, as we have travelled and we "did" NYC before we moved here. But I don't think you get a fair shake at what it's like to live in New York doing the highlight tour. There are "stops" on the tour, but they hold so much more meaning to those of us that live here. New York is the best city in the world, and I'll always feel that way.

Bubba's Christmas Letter

Dear fellow Bubbas:

This year was a great year for the Bubbas. In January we moved into our new trailer. We opted for double high vs. double wide, after all, it's Manhattan, ya gotta go vertical. In Feb. we had some bad news, Mrs. Bubba's Granddadder had passed away so we had to go back to Texas for the funeral. It was a nice trip, and we got to visit with lots of her kin. In March we went to Tenn. and the Smokey Mnts. Now, we did enjoy being back in America on that trip. We lost our drawers on the flight in, but luckily we found one of them Old Navy's and got some drawers I guess were left over from the last time the Navy ordered drawers.

That brings us to April. Not much happened in April. Bubba was busy with work. May, that's Mrs. Bubba's b-day month, so we celebrated with a fancy dinner. We also went with our friends to Virginia. There we went to Jefferson's house. It was real nice.

In June we found out that Mrs. Bubba was knocked up. You think a fancy dinner on your birthday and it's over, but looks like we'll be living with that night for awhile. But we're happy to bring a little Bubba into the world, still waiting on him. In late June Bubba's Maw Maw passed away, so we went to Dallas for the funeral. Bubba lost his suitcase and had to borrow a suit. Again, we had to go buy underwears on an emergency trip. July came and went and then we were in August. We decide to pack up our stuff, rent a hoopie and drive up to Maine. In Maine they got Bubba's, but they talk different and refer to themselves as downeasters. But they're Bubba's alright.

September Bubba started to figure on how to move the family back to Texas, with the little Bubba on the way. We also confirmed we were indeed having a Bubba and not a Sissy. Then October came and it was Bubba's birthday. But Bubba didn't end up with a bun in the oven after his birthday. In Nov. Bubba flew to Houston to talk with some gas station guys about moving back to Houston. Then we gave thanks for all our "stuff" the Good Lord has Blessed Us with.

Now it's December and I should brag about how wonderful life is in the Bubba house. We got the gas station job waiting for us, we got the little Bubba getting ready to come out, and we got a full sized Christmas tree in our double tall trailer this year. Now, if it only snow, we'd be set.

Stuck in NYC

As we plot our escape from the city, we have had a recurring conversation with ourselves and our friends. That is, we like the city, but it is tough with kids, then justification for moving out of the city. Some of our friends response is, "We'd love to move home, but right now our jobs are here." It seems, NYC is hard to escape. It's hard to escape for several reasons: top jobs in finance, banking and law; a life of no cars and everything literally always open and right around the corner from you; friends in the city; and of course all the big buildings, bright lights and fast times. But, our entire time in the city has been marked by friends leaving. And when someone leaves, we all gather around, mourn their loss, and congratulate ourselves for making it just a bit longer.

We like to think of it as graduating from college. We had our time here, it was fun, we will always remember it, but now we are moving on to something new and different. But still, we sometimes find ourselves justifying again our reasons for leaving. Seems we are a little bit stuck in NYC.