Same feet, different day

Until recently (I just moved), I was able to walk to work, just as I was when I lived in San Francisco. But walking to work in New York City isn't the same as walking to work in San Francisco.

When I walked to work in San Francisco, the first person I talked to was usually Alex, the guy who sold me my coffee. We would make small talk while I stirred in my excessive sugar, and with his Lebanese accent he would wish me a good day.

The other morning I walked out my front door at 7:30 in the morning and heard a siren, a horn, and a person complain that the 'Piece of Chicken' shop was not open yet.

When I walked to work in San Francisco, I would walk through Chinatown. I would see the industrious store owners opening their shops, and would occasionally get a small nod from one of them, amiable and small-towny.

Here, I walked passed Times Square and the Good Morning America studios. There would often be a gaggle of tourists, from all parts of this country, standing outside of a window and looking in on a grown weatherman getting make-up brushed onto his face.

Occasionally, once I hit Kearny Street in SF, things would get more hectic. There were more people, more cars, the mild grind of the cables under the street breaking the morning stillness. I would have to wait for lights before I crossed the street as traffic picked up.

One day, on my morning commute in New York, there was a Beyonce concert in the street. It occured to me, as I walked on a detour route two blocks out of my way, that there are people all over the country that would pay to see a Beyonce concert. To me, it was a traffic jam. As I walked away, a policeman asked an asshole to get out of the way.

On my walk home there, I used to see big hills that make me question whether I wanted to take the bus that day.

On my walk home here, I would see a giant two-story high picture of Jay-Z scowling at me, judging me in a hip-hop way, telling me silently that his 99 problems beat my one. And then I might see someone almost hit by a bus.

Both routes are good, in their own way. It's the way parents say they love all their kids the same, just in different ways.

This is my first week in my new place on the Upper West Side. Work is much further away now, so I'll probably take the subway.

But this morning I walked.