Day 5
I was up until 4:30 am this morning and then a further few hours
after waking up getting this diary upto date.
Lee and I didn't get out the
house before 2pm. We had two main objectives for today, the main one was to go
about 20 to 30 miles out of the City to meet an online buddy of mine, Amiee, who
I'd chatted to occassionally on the internet over the last 3 or 4 years, the
second more simple task was to make our way to near the Statue of Liberty so Lee
could take some photos of it. Leaving with plenty of time to spare we took the
Subway. It was several stops into our journey that we realised the station on
the map that we'd been using as a starting point for most of our journeys so
far(Bergen Street) actually has two points of referance on the Subway guide map,
and it had only been luck so far that had prevented us from previous major muck
ups. If you imagine a square, and the lower side of the square represented our
initial journey then the actual route followed the other three sides. To add
insult to all this we found out from an extremely kind woman that the journey we
now wished to take was no longer possible because the stations and track were
now destroyed as a result of the September the 11th terrorist attacks.
Marjorie,
not Marge she insisted, and I discussed the future of New York. I tried to
reassure her that in time New Yorkers would become acclimatised to the threat
and impracticalities that being a terrorists target brings, as we had done in
London. However I was struck by the fact that whilst the IRA may well have
wanted to attack us with weapons of mass destruction, it was not likely that
either they could, or even if they could, that it would be in their best
interest to do so. New York , and possibly London also, on the other hand are
now facing an enemy who seem more than willing and possibly able to hit out with
such weapons.
If
one isn't willing to capitulate to the demands of the terrorists, then time is
of the essence, trying to apply only diplomatic or economic pressure means a
possible lengthy wait during which your terrorist enemy may pick at or even
paralyse you. Today a further 30 people have tested positive for Anthrax
contamination and the news is rife with theories that ultimately conclude with a
possible uncontrollable epidemic.
Whether it's biological, chemical, nuclear or an environmetal catastrophe
the fact remains that we are especially prone at this time in our "sociological
/ Biblical" clock to worrying over a possible doomsday scenario. This one factor
possibly plays a far greater role in our perception of world events right now ,
far more than most people care to admit.
Lee and I, on the advice of Marjorie, don't attempt to get to the Statue
of Liberty, and turn back towards the main central station, so that we can
arrive at our redezvous on time. The USA too is re-assessing it's place in the
world and sense of security, the events of September 11th are still foremost in
the minds of American's especially New Yorkers. Our journey around New York on
the Subway seems far more revealling than hovering around Times Square, or
shooting up The Empire State Building. New York is known for it's brash and
aggressive culture, but I was deeply touched to see the welcome and delight in
the eyes of some of the people near us on the Subway when they heard our English
accented apologies for sitting down next to them, or asking for advice regarding
the Subway (and God we needed it!).
Today I got a taste of the "special relationship" between the UK and the
USA. Up to now it felt like the UK is merely a puppet of the USA, and that the
US would quite happily sacrifice the UK if push came to shove. BUT there's
something that needs to be taken into consideration in this formulae and that is
the issue of TRUST. Lee said this evening "I am 3000 miles from home but I feel
more at home here than I do 30 miles across the Channel in France." The close
similarities of language and culture stand for a lot in a world that's
simultaneously shrinking (in terms of communications) and fragementing
(politically).
Just before I left the Uk a friend had told me that she could not forgive
Tony Blaire for getting us so deeply involved in what she considered to be the
USA's own problem, a problem that they did not need our help with in solving.
Strangely she's one of those people who would defend her own friends even at
great risk to herself with no definite promise of loyalty back.
This evening we
met Amiee at White Plains, went to an "Irish" bar, (I didn't notice any IRA
collection tins) deepened the friendship with Amiee (giving a person flesh and
blood and real three dimensions is generally a bonus.) Her co workers, who were
in the Bar too, were English, so we didn't speak to them much, only enough to
check out our locations in the UK and assess our class and station.
On the
train home the ticket inspector on looking at our "reduced price for people with
disabilities tickets" shouted loudly at Lee and I "Show me something!" at this
point a plethora of one liners comes to mind, however I clicked that he wanted
to see in what way Lee was disabled. Lee waved his plastic hand at the man (He
should have waved his plastic finger at him). A prime subject for disability
awareness training I think. Later as the man passed by I said to Lee to trip him
up, "and when he gets up tell him that's your artificial leg too".
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