Patience.org

So we’re finally leaving New York, tomorrow night to be exact. I thought I’d gather together some of my personal thoughts about the place, in particular the things I think I will miss most about it. Of course you’re not sure what they’ll be until you leave – I had no idea that chocolate would be such a big deal when I left the UK originally! So in no particular order, here they are…

My son playing baseball…cycling up the west side highway….cycling all the way around the perimeter of Manhattan…the walk to work (and subsequent walk back)…being able to walk to gigs at a lot of venues, especially to see those British bands before they got big here…in fact being able to walk to a lot of places people elsewhere only visit once in their lifetimes, if ever (but that we take for granted)….the YMCA and the chit chat among the old guys in the locker room about politics, sports (boxing a specialty)….the subway – it’s cheap, mostly efficient and just works, most of the time…the Mets and Shea Stadium (slightly less)…Cedar Tavern (though it’s been gone a while)… the seasons – living here you really know what summer and winter are all about….and the general tolerance for a higher level of craziness than most places would put up with; it makes for an interesting, if sometimes challenging life….did I mention baseball enough?

Many of these things we will be able to still do – baseball is surprisingly popular in the UK – but it won’t be New York.

But that’s OK. Life moves on, as we do, to a new chapter in our lives. And New York will always be here. It will always be one of my top two cities in the world, the place where I met my wife, got married and where both our children were born – they’re the real native New Yorkers after all, and always will be.

We’re getting very close to the big move. But let’s see what one or both of us have done since the start of the year:

• Bought an apartment
• Renovated the apartment by combining it with what we already had – including the accompanying byzantine NYC bureaucracy
• Accepted a new job and with it, made the decision to move country.
• Found a house in the UK
• Got both kids into a good school in London – just as competitive as NYC
• Become a citizen of the US
• Put the apartment on the market (holding open houses is such fun).
• Started to move stuff overseas (or give it away or sell it on eBay)
• Travel to the UK, Switzerland & various places in the US.
• Gradually disconnect from our life in NYC (banks, credit cards, utilities, schools etc)

All the time holding down our jobs, keeping the kids on the straight & narrow (only two ER visits during this time!) and generally trying to maintain some sangfroid about the whole thing. So if we haven’t been as communicative as usual, that’ll be why .