Harriet the Spy

Today I people-watched, ala Harriet the Spy. (For those of you that were never a 12 year-old girl, Harriet the Spy is a fab, if kind of dark, book about a girl who spies on people and takes notes and then her friends/classmates get her notebook and read it and it's all crazy after that. Also, this book is the only reason I ever learned what a dumbwaiter was...because Harriet hides in one.) Consider this a free, less interesting version of the NY Times Metro Diary segment from Mondays. I didn't keep incriminating notes, but I did hop around for the afternoon, and here are some different things I observed:
1.) Tourists--I spent a scant amount of time at Battery Park, which is where the ferries to Staten Island and the Statue of Liberty leave from. I should have realized it would be tourist central before I went there, but I really like Bowling Green (which is the subway stop there) because it is also where the National Museum of the American Indian is. I decided to risk the park and was promptly asked for directions by multiple people, so I moved on. I have no idea how to get to the Statue of Liberty, so it's not like I was going to be much help anyway.
2.) The Suits--after leaving Battery Park, I went back to the National Museum of the American Indian. It's located in the Alexander Hamilton Custom House which is grand looking and marble and imposingly carved. (I might do a future post on the museum, because I like it and it's FREE! Also, the interior, which you can't take pictures of, is stunning. I recommend.) Anyway, it was lunchtime and it's near Wall St, so I saw lots and lots of suited people. I always like seeing people with ties and/or heels walking and trying to eat pizza at the same time. It's more coordinated than I am, at any rate. Blue seems to be the business shirt color of the season, in case you were curious.
3.) Yuppies--Back in Brooklyn, I went to get a bubble tea in Park Slope (YUM) and was immediately blocked in my speed-walking by yuppies with strollers, and occasionally yuppies with dogs. Sigh. Such is Park Slope, it seems.
4.) City as a Machine--I am living in a city comprised of 8 million people, with 2.5 million in Brooklyn alone. For that many people to co-exist without serious problems, the infrastructure has to be completely organized, which is something that boggles my mind. Today, for instance, as I was watching Bowling Green, I noticed that the garbage cans around the small park had to be emptied 4 times during the lunch hour. By 1:30 or so, when the lunch crowd had thinned out and I was leaving, there was a huge stack of filled garbage bags by the gate. Walking through Crown Heights, I saw 3 people going around and picking soda cans and bottles out of garbage cans to recycle them for cash. I see this every week--but it just struck me today for some reason: probably 12 garbage bags of cans in one neighborhood. That's a LOT of cans (and a lot of plastic, and a lot of compost, etc. etc.) Where does it all go? (now THERE'S a question to keep one up at night...) I know that small towns contend with these issues too, but it's the vastness that is so crazy. I also have renewed respect for urban designers as well--mazes of subways, warrens of 1-way streets, and planning, planning, planning. That isn't really a "people-watching" observation, I guess. It's just a general one.

So what did I learn today? No matter if I lived here for 100 months instead of just 1 month (so far) I don't think I could get used to, or bored by, the vast number and diversity of the people who live here. I am never going to Battery Park unless it's the dead of winter. People who lunch at Bowling Green should bring reusable bags. Sanitation workers should probably get paid more. And at Prospect Park, in Bk, no one asks you for directions.