Catch ya on the flip

Breaking all the rules of photoblog (are there really rules?!) I'm actually posting a photo of a friend that has been sent to me earlier today from New York. So strictly speaking I haven't taken this!

Way back in 2001 I went to New York - you can see what happened on other posts of this blog (!) and part of what made that trip so much fun was Miriam.

Over the years we have traded sarcastic insults about each other and our respective nations, and kept up a healthy banter via email too.

Meeting in the flesh was one of the highlights of my June 2001 trip. Being "escorted" to Grand Central and to see the journey home from work of a typical Noo Yawker was great fun.

As someone who had never visited another country on his own before, let alone the mad metropolis of New York, Miriam helped with info and suggestions and help when I went.

Since then, in and out of each others lives we have kept in touch and shared experiences both good and bad. We have swapped information about our families lives and those important things that have happened around us that sometimes remind you how small the world really is.

I have since discovered being educated in NY language is a never ending lesson too!

So, when she asked why she wasn't on my photoblog I had to explain that it was really a collection of pictures I had taken, not like a social networking site where you "add friends" and build a kind of profile.

However for this to really represent me, you do kind of have to understand how and why I ended up in New York and took the pictures that I did back in 2001 and again in 2004. In some small ways, she did affect the choices I made through the viewfinder. I wanted to show Mir "what I had seen" of her city.

Everytime I pass through US Boarder Control I think of a few people - Miriam is always one of them!

It reminds me that friendship, regardless of whether you see them everyday or maybe only once or twice in your life is priceless.

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Other Miriam facts!

She rides in a subway car with no air conditioning just because there are seats available.

She takes the train home and knows exactly where on the platform the doors will open that will leave her right in front of the exit stairway.

She knows what a 'regular' coffee is. (For you non-NYers, this is a coffee with milk and sugar)

She knows that it’s not 'Manhattan'; it's 'The City'.

For her there is no north and south. It's "uptown" or "downtown." If you're really from New York you have absolutely no concept of where north and south are.... (and east or west is "cross-town"!)

She crosses the street anywhere but on the corners and will yell at cars for not respecting her right to do it.

She speaks her local language from DA Bronx.

She knows what a "real" pizza and a "real" bagel taste like.

She is not the least bit interested in going to Times Square on New Year's Eve.

She checks her purse if someone bumps into her.

She will never notice the lady walking down the road having a perfectly normal conversation with herself

She considers the Presidential visit a major traffic jam, not an honor.

She can nap on the subway and never miss her stop.

She will run you down if you walk too slow.

That's Miriam, baby! Ya gotta love her!