I don't 'heart' New York

After cleaning off dog crap from the bottom of my shoes I realised that I have well and truly fallen out of love with New York.  It is a sad fact that this city is getting the better of me at the moment and all the good things about living here are being out-weighed by the bad.

I spent the Christmas holidays in Sarasota, Florida and had a great time.  Everywhere was so clean and there was so much space.  We stayed in a house with a wardrobe bigger than our bathroom in New York.  It had central air that didn't sound like a plane landing and, wait for it, a washing machine and tumble dryer!  I had forgotten what it was like to live normally, to be able to jump in a car that isn't parked 5 blocks away and wear heels as you don't have to wade through dog crap to go to dinner.  Also, the people were so much friendlier and nicer to each other.  I know it's a stereotype to call New Yorkers rude, and I know that not all of them are, but many people here are short-tempered and often seem grumpy.

I thought I would fix my New York funk by going to the Guggenheim to look at the Picasso exhibit.  I thought that being somewhere full of such amazing art would help me remember why I used to love this city so much.  Although I enjoyed the exhibit it didn't rekindle my NY fire.  There was a grumpy older women scowling and telling everyone to be quiet.  I think it's acceptable to discuss a painting in an art gallery, it's not a library!

So then I decided on a trip to the cinema for a bit of escapism.  When the lights went down a couple were talking very loudly and when asked, "Do you think you could be quiet" the reply was "Do you think you could drop dead".  Lovely.  I thought that surely the gym would be a safe-haven, nope!  I watched as endless women fought over floor space and gave each other dirty looks.  Then as 50 people tried to exercise in a space for the 30 I realised that none of my usual haunts would make me feel better.

I finally gave up after being squashed into a restaurant after being made to wait 15 minutes when we had a reservation, and instead of an apology were just given a surly look from the maitre d.  On the way home I trod in the aforementioned dog crap and that was it, I officially dumped New York.

I'm not sure if this is just a phase I am going through and that over time I will learn to love the city again, but at the moment I feel as if my bubble has been burst and New York isn't the place for me.