random nyc thoughts

I visited New York City for the first time. Here are random thoughts. The subway is cleaner and people are friendlier than I expected. Times Square is insane. I saw rats (Rats are extremely rare here in Alberta), people smoking crack, and one incident of road rage. The pizza is as good as people say. Katz’s Deli is fabulous. There’s nothing left of the old Greenwich Village. MoMa and the Metropolitan Museum of Art are two of the great museums of the world. The High Line – a park on an old, elevated train line – is a great idea. Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge is for people who like crowds. NYC is for people who like crowds. The scale of the city can’t be described; it must be experienced. I plan to go back.

chickens and eggs

Why pay a $3.00 CAD premium for a dozen eggs? Chalk it up to a childhood memory of an elementary school field trip to a farm; specifically, a visit to the massive chicken house. There were thousands of birds, row upon row of tiny cages, three chickens in each. “There are only supposed to be two” we were told. “Don’t tell anybody.” Conveyor belts sweep away the eggs. I remember thinking it was horrible. Cramped in cages, never seeing the sun, to live and die like this. Fast forward to a recent trip to the grocery story. Yes, I’ll pay double for a dozen just to let the chickens run free. Call it a guilt tax.