Thinking of living in New York? Things a Brit should consider

Bright lights. Movie stars. Broadway. Famous landmarks. New York has it all. Many of us have visited the city on a holiday or shopping break, but have you ever wondered what it would be like to be there for a bit longer? Will the gloss wear off when you live and breathe it for a few months or longer?

My wife Sam and I spent a year living in the city in 2003-04. We did it in style, with a swanky Upper East Side apartment (one p) and this view (above) of the city to wonder at every night. There were highs, and there were lows. So, if you ever do consider upping sticks in good old Blighty and becoming a New Yorker, here is a very personal list of things we loved, and things we missed.

Things we loved about NYC:

1. The food. Amazing. So much choice, great value, and almost every country in the world has its cuisine represented here. Within five blocks of our apartment, we counted over 100 restaurants covering over 20 ethnicities. The good places gain legend status. Bad places don’t survive long.

2. Central Park. Four blocks away, we could walk in the park any time of the day, and we witnessed all four seasons clearly pass through the park. We saw the changes in the trees, the wildlife and most of all in the people. I remember the first Sunday of spring when everyone came out of hibernation and the park sprung to life after a winter of relative solitude on our city walks.

3. Evenings walking to Times Square and enjoying the crowds and the buzz – because we could!

4. Exploring the outer boroughs – Brooklyn for Coney Island, Junior’s Cheesecakes and the Polish area of Greenpoint, the Bronx for its bargain shops and Dominic’s Italian restaurant (worth a post by itself), Statten Island for the ferry ride and Queens for the great Indian and Greek food.

5. Spotting stars, usually by accident – near neighbours to Richard Dreyfuss, Lou Reed and a famous Yankies star, I usually learned of a close encounter when I heard others chatting about who just walked past. There were always movie sets taking place in the city.

6. Saturday mornings at the delis and cafes of the Upper East and West sides. Great atmosphere and a really cool way to wind down at the weekends.

7. Everything staying open until 10pm or later, and not closing at 5.30.

And things we missed about the UK:

1. Decent chocolate – Hershey’s sucks (to use the local parlance). And don’t be fooled by the Cadbury’s products in many stores. They are made by Hershey’s. We found a local tobacconist who got his chocolate from Ireland, and we kept him in business. But it was frustrating that the world’s most powerful nation can’t produce decent chocolate.

2. Reliable TV news – we found the US news channels to be so superficial and unbalanced that when anything significant happened I would rely on the internet rather than the TV to get credible information. So annoying!

3. Holidays (vacation time) – Americans, why don’t you stand up in revolt and your slave-like conditions. 10 days annual holiday – what are you thinking of?

4. Good value supermarkets – if you moan about Tesco and Sainsurys here, wait till you try Manhattan’s best. You have a choice of breaking the bank for a pot of salad at the admittedly marvellous Dean and Deluca or Eli’s, or suffering awful service at Gristedes (grimy Gristedes as we came to affectionately know it) or the ironically named Food Emporium. Still expensive but poor.

5. Baking products – want to make a cake, or cookies? Not easy when the flour is so poor. Ex-pat friends who were there for many years even imported their own flour (wonder how this goes down now with the security concerns?)

6. Tipping – I asked someone at work about tipping the staff in our apartment building, and as we had been there only 3 months, they said around $500 would be acceptable. I reckon most Americans reading this will be thinking “yeah, so what?” while everyone else will be choking in shock. For God’s sake, pay these guys a decent wage and stop this stupidity! (There, it’s off my chest)

Anyone who has done the same and tried life in NY will be able to make a different list, but regardless of the frustrations it is a unique city and I feel so privileged to have had the chance to spend a year of our lives there.

(2003/04)