London Culture
In Pimlico there is a well-established restaurant, Hunan, (http://www.hunanlondon.com ) to which I
was introduced several years ago. It is basically a tapas style Chinese
restaurant of exceptional and consistent quality. There is no menu as such, on
arrival you simply advise any particular aversions or allergies and leave it to
them. The portions are quite small and it is not uncommon to have 18-20
portions over a meal. Usually it is necessary to book a few weeks ahead but I
rang on Saturday (after watching the Wallabies get beaten by England!) on the
off chance and was pleased to be accepted for a 6:00pm dinner.
The adjacent table had four people I think of Iranian or
maybe Pakistani descent but who spoke impeccable English. But as I listened to
them tell the waiter what they would not eat for cultural/religious reasons I
wondered why they had chosen this venue! Meat, chicken, fish, seafood, an
extensive list of root vegetables and I think tofu were not acceptable. None of this appeared to bother the management and
the patrons enjoyed a varied and creative meal based upon a very limited set of
permitted ingredients!
Hyde Park Corner
On Sunday I visited Speaker’s Corner at Hyde Park – up near
Marble Arch. When Sharon and I were dating we went a few times on Sundays to
the Domain in Sydney (it was free and I was hoping to give Sharon the impression that I was
worldly, broad minded and interesting for suggesting such a venue). In those
days there were a few thousand people gathered around various speakers on all
sorts of topics and it was modelled on Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park. At the
Domain in the 1970’s, John Webster was a well-known and highly entertaining
Brit with a booming voice who each week would comment humorously on current
affairs and literally any topic-and dealt with interjections with sublime wit
(or abuse).
Tourist
One aspect of this truncated ‘Gap Year’ that I had not
properly anticipated is that each day probably the only decision of any
significance that I make is what to do that day! Sometimes I have objectives in
mind but often I don’t. After a rainy and grey weekend, Monday dawned bright
and clear in London so I set off from my flat in the West End and crossed
Piccadilly into Green Park and on to The Mall at Buckingham Palace where the
Changing of the Guard was about to commence. 
A number of other tourists had gathered and I had excellent vantage points for all the colour and ceremony.
St James Park was a mass of autumn colour and it was
invigorating to be able to stroll through all this natural beauty crunching
fallen leaves under foot and watching squirrels frantically scavenging ahead of
the winter.
I continued my walk up out of the Park into Regent Street
after crossing Pall Mall (I am starting to sound like Monopoly!) into
Piccadilly Circus and Coventry Street and on into Trafalgar Square for a visit
to the National Gallery. It was an unplanned but thoroughly enjoyable way to
spend a perfect autumn day.
West End
The West End in London and Broadway in NY are the home of
theatre musicals and the two hottest tickets are The Book of Mormon and Matilda
(Roald Dahl’s story with music by Australia’s Tim Minchin). I was able to get a
ticket for that night’s performance of The Book of Mormon. It will play in
Australia in about two years and was written by writers of South Park with
music by the lyricist behind Avenue Q. It was high energy, utterly camp,
incredibly politically incorrect – all the things I like in a musical! Some, (particularly
devout Mormons), might find aspects of the show offensive but you know that
before attending.
The music and dancing were great and the singing and acting
were superb. The story line is basically about pairs of white, 19 year old American
Mormon boys going to Uganda to ‘convert’ villagers who are in grinding poverty,
a war zone, a famine, living through warlord attacks and a range of other
threats. It was a surprisingly ideal setting for the writers to develop some
ridiculously funny scenarios and I am not surprised that the show is a hit both
in London and NY.
Tuesday
Tuesday was a travel day and over six months ago I had found
and booked a very cheap fare to the US – on Iceland Air. Departure was from
Gatwick with a 90 minute layover in Reykjavik to change planes for NY. I
arrived in Reykjavik at 3:30pm local time and saw that there were six separate
departures at or about 5:00pm to the US including Boston, New York (JFK), New
York (Newark), Seattle and Washington.
For such a small country I was surprised that they were in
this market and at such good prices with such an extensive fleet of modern
aircraft. This mystery was partially solved a few days later when I had lunch
with the Gandolfis, the very erudite couple we met on the cruise. Arthur
explained that for several decades trans-Atlantic flight fares had been highly
regulated but Iceland Air offered flights which included a stopover (brief) in
Iceland thus falling out of the definition of being a trans Atlantic flight.
Their unregulated, cheaper fares became very popular with young
Americans and that attachment has continued into the era of deregulation –which
started with Laker Airlines in the 1970’s. Iceland was using its location as a
point of difference and exploiting it commercially. Their advertising is very
prominent in NY.
New York, New York!
The sight of the brilliant night cityscape of Manhattan from
the air never fails to move me –and I suspect-many people. It reflects the
buzz, excitement and vibrancy of this iconic city with its culture and brashness;
its diversity and rhythms of the communities that inhabit it.
On arrival the cooking smells of roasted chestnuts and crisp
bagels from the corner vendors capture your attention.
Maybe it’s the familiarity through films and music over the
years but despite its huge population and the visitor’s anonymity, you really
do feel welcome and entitled to share and enjoy this fabulous city.
My previous visits since 1989 have generally been for
business and inevitably brief – this time the pace will be different.
On my first morning I took the subway from my Midtown flat
to the Financial District. The replacement building for the destroyed World
Trade centre is nearly complete and is very evocative. The building again
demonstrates that architecture is unquestionably art and with this building
they have certainly captured the resilience and defiance of the community. It
arises like a modern obelisk with silver glass cladding capped by a
communications tower forming a point like a spear.
I was impressed by all the renovation and works being
undertaken on roads and scaffolding on many buildings in the wider Downtown district
and wondered why so much was happening all at once. I subsequently learned that
much of this was rectification work after the effects of Hurricane Sandy a year
or so ago.
The weather is milder than the UK except when the winds
start – and the evenings are very cold.
Unions
New Yorkers do not lack the ability to express opinions –
stridently. In one or two downtown locations I saw huge inflatable rubber rats.
These were associated with union pickets or demonstrators with grievances at
particular worksites. One demonstration of about a dozen men was in front of a
statue of George Washington which was being renovated in Wall Street. I asked
one of the protestors what the issue was about – and he didn’t know!! He
suggested I speak to the guy in the hat. He was the leader and very genial and
delighted at my interest. He pointed out that the guys doing the statue
renovation were being paid less that they should be in accordance with union
agreements in the area. 
The guys working on the statue seemed oblivious to all the
fuss and I don’t think the job would be taking more than a week or two anyway.
The irony of a debate occurring about a pay dispute over
probably $2 an hour across the road from the NYSE where$ billions if not
$trillions were being traded that day seemed lost on everyone.
Precincts
New York was settled in the 1600’s and, as with all older
cities, different precincts developed as various trades, commercial activity or
immigration occurred-hence the Garment District, the Legal District (court
houses), the Theatre District, the Diamond District near midtown where even
today orthodox Jewish traders ply their trade-and you just know as they hurry
past you in their traditional garb, that in their traditional way over 100's of years, at least some probably have a cachet of diamonds in the pockets of their long overcoats en route to a buyer.
The Subway is the optimal way for getting around Manhattan
and beyond to the Boroughs. I had never been to The Bronx before so I took the
Subway and got off at a random station in the Bronx and became immediately
aware that Hispanics and African Americans were the dominant population. Many
seemed idle and were just hanging around in mid-afternoon sun so I didn’t stay
long and caught a train back. I was sitting next to two young Hispanic men who
were in animated conversation and the younger of the two was matter of factly
showing the scar from a recent bullet wound to his hand.
Meetings
On Wednesday I caught up with Arthur and Anna Gandalfi whom Sharon
and I had met and become friendly with on the cruise. A social occasion with
Arthur is like a gymnasium workout for the mind! We spent a pleasant few hours
together and I am sure that we will keep in touch one way or another.
I had meetings on Thursday with executives with two of PHR’s
New York based clients (sounds quite grand – but it is true!). Lazard is based
in the famous Rockefeller Center and McGraw Hill is in an adjacent building.
The Rockefeller Center has set up its Ice Rink for winter and the massive
spruce Christmas tree was delivered on a semi-trailer today and will take a
week to decorate.
PHR is registered with the US Consul in Sydney so that any
US firm wishing to start operations in Australia who contacts the Consulate might
get to know about PHR’s services. To date this connection has not sourced any
business for PHR. However, on Friday out of the blue we received an email
approach via this channel from a large corporation in Virginia that is
commencing operations in Australia soon – I was able to immediately reply and
let them know I was in the US visiting other clients of PHR. No doubt we will
speak with them next week.
Broadway Theatre
On Wednesday night I saw Matilda. It is a great production
which is aimed at a young audience probably early teens and up. The Roald Dahl story
revolves around a Miss Hannigan type school principal and an incredibly bright
student Matilda who has parents who are ignorant spivs. Great singing and
dancing – and Tim Minchin’s music and songs are terrific.
Central Park
Central Park is a wonderful part of New York. It comprises
sporting venues, cycling and jogging tracks, riding trails, lakes, streams and
waterfalls. It is huge and also includes a zoo and any number of playgrounds
and venues for families. On my first visit to NYC in 1989 I went cycling in
Central Park but on this occasion took my time walking through its entire
length from 59th Street to 110th Street.
My timing was great in that the autumn leaves had not yet
fallen and I saw the park in a magnificent state. It is very well used by the
local residents who mainly live in apartments. I saw professional dog walkers
(ten dogs at a time) and also several Hispanic maids walking the household
pooch!
Apart from the variety of activities, the seasons change quite
dramatically and the pool for example is being replaced with the skating rink.
Soon it will be snow covered and apart from the spruce trees the other trees
will be bare.
In various parks around the world I have noticed the custom
of people installing plaques with inscriptions on park benches. Often the
actual park bench has been donated by the inscriber.
In the UK these tend to be staid and predictable – In memory
of Tom and Mary who loved this Park etc etc.
In Central Park the plaques tend to be more eclectic – it
seems for a lot of people Central Park was their backyard for a generation.
There were inscriptions from children to their parents thanking them for the
memories of growing up there; presents between grandparents on auspicious
birthdays; some are dedicated to particular named dogs; some were in memory of
children or at least young adults – with the common date of death of September
2001. 
Exhibitions/Galleries
There are literally hundreds of museums and galleries in New
York. This is probably a function of population, immigration and also a highly
developed interest and tradition in the pursuit and benefaction of creative art
forms. Every gallery lists donors and
there is a well-developed culture of philanthropy towards the arts.
Yesterday I visited New York Public Library in Fifth Avenue
which had an excellent exhibition about children’s books.
In the early 1900’s most NY libraries had signs saying
children and dogs were not allowed! There was some campaigning and attitudes
gradually changed towards literacy for children and by the 1930’s there were
school text books for reading. The exhibition included some books from the Fun
with Dick & Jane series. I had used these same books at school in the
1950’s.
This was standard fare in US schools until the 1960’s when
the relevance of a white household in a very benign and predictable domestic
environment started to lose traction-reading scores were also declining. One
can only imagine how Dick and Jane would fare with the more sophisticated
children of today!
This provided an opportunity for Dr Suess to emerge with The
Cat in the Hat and subsequent books which did much to re stimulate the interest
of children in reading.
Other interesting pieces of data from the exhibition:
·
Mary Poppins was written by an Australian woman,
PL Travers, who was initially cautious about Walt Disney making a film from her
book. But she relented and became fabulously wealthy as a result. Part of her
reluctance was the worry that, as an author, her reputation might be diminished
if she was seen to be writing children’s books!
·
A book which is very familiar to Matthew and
Lucas, A Very Hungry Caterpillar, started life in 1969 as A Week With Willie the Worm. But when the
publisher figured out a way of punching holes into individual pages in mass production,
this allowed the caterpillar to ‘eat’ various items – so holes appeared in the
pages where the eating had occurred and the book became an outstanding success!
·
The Golden Books series was established in 1942.
It was an overnight success because each book sold for 25 cents (about 15% of
the price of the next cheapest children’s book); and because they were sold at
convenience stores and all manner of outlets as well as in bookshops-thus
becoming very accessible to a huge market.
Today I visited the house of John Pierpont Morgan in Madison
Avenue at 36th Street. He was one of the most successful
stockbrokers, bankers and deal doers in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The
value of some of the deals he brokered would be larger in real terms than what
occurs these days. He was revered for a number of reasons and while he was
alive he had a personal art gallery built adjacent to his home! The land for
his home would be incredibly valuable to a developer wishing to build yet
another sky scraper but the family does not need to sell! He was the founder of
the JP Morgan bank.
The house and gallery are now open to the public and JP was
an avid collector of manuscripts and artefacts and personally attended
archaeological digs right up to his death in 1913. His son continued in the
business and set about finding a way to organise and make available to the
public his father’s astonishing collection. Much has been dispersed to various
galleries and museums around the world and Renzo Piano (architect of Aurora
Place Sydney fame) was engaged to design an annexe to link the buildings and
create the museum.
Man Booker Prize
In the JP Morgan museum there was an exhibition about the
Booker Prize which has been awarded annually since 1969. It was established to
give a spur to the book industry and has been very successful in that task.
Each year the nominated shortlisted books sell very well as does the eventual
winner.
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