For the first time in my life I am cat sitting. I’m used to village cats and this is a city cat so I don’t know how much time I need to spend with the cat, how much I need to play and more.
When I look after toddlers I know that I have to be attentive to them from the moment they wake up to the moment they nap or sleep. It’s a challenge to have that level of endurance.
After watching the video below this paragraph I want to speak on the pleasure of walking without stopping at a road crossing. In modern cities you can’t walk for more than a minute or two without having to stop at a road crossing, a traffic light or other feature. The result is that a stroll or walk is filled with stops and starts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVJ_rgEUSJE
As people move towards urbanised centres, and as more and more people live vertically, on top of each other so the need for gyms, swimming pools, indoor climbing centres and other features become essential. This is because we are designed by evolution for sports. Moving towards urban centres detracts from our ability to do sports in a natural environment.
10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80. The doors open. I walk forward a little more, a picture is taken, go up another 6 floors and I’m on an observation deck. That’s the experience people get as they go up to the observation deck of the empire state building. It’s amusing because although the view is great it doesn’t feel that high, probably because the structure is so massive compared to other parts of the world. What you see are many buildings, some sticking out by themselves and others clustered together. There are a lot of sky scrapers although it’s hard to see them with the haze. When down at ground level you see the valleys or canyons of buildings. Structures are tall requiring you to look up more than usual to see the top. The streets are long and straight making it easier to see for miles. The taxis and buses are numerous. The emergency services always have the lights on which is different from other countries I’ve visited. During my time in New york I visited a number of sights around the city. I went to Ellis Island, Statten Island and Liberty Island. Manhattan itself is an island connected by several famous bridges and a number of tunnels.