On Loan To NYC: The good, the bad and the ugly

So its been pretty quiet lately for me as ive been quite buys in work and wasn't well for a few days......1, 2, 3 awwww, but you'll be glad to hear im back on my feet and fighting fit.......well fighting.......ok ok so im back to slobbing around :-)

So we have been very privileged to have the company lately of Kelly and Michael, and Sophie and Chloe and would like to thank them for the guest publishes on our Blog. I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I did :-). As a recap:

The bar has been set high so start preping future visitors!

Few pictures to get you started (as lets face it thats what your here for!):

Im a little tea pot....

All these parks are hard work!

Building up to his move....

Never even bought her dinner! Thats my boy!

All wet Mommy!

Bear Grylls.

So far you have heard all about the great things of New York/USA and while yes it has a lot of things going for it there are some not so good things also. I name this section

"The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"

The Good

Endless amounts of things to do. Both free and paid theres always something to do an while the weather plays a big part during the summer im pretty sure that during the winter there will be plenty also
People. People here are unbelievable nice. To be fair im sure it has its fair share of assholes too but from what we have found the people are helpful and friendly. Ive never had so many people comment on how cute Ben is and how adorable Katies cheeks are. Additionally you'll be walking down the street and some random stranger will come up to you, look at both your kids and say "God bless you" and they really mean it. Quite endearing.
Weather. Its warm all summer and while a lot of you may think cold isnt good apparently its freezing all winter. I hate the in between. Give me Sun or give me snow. Rainy drizzle can feck right off.
Pedestrian right of way. Yup you heard me right. Over here Pedestrians have the right of way at "most" (before peoples sue me for being hit by cars) junctions. Its great! By las cars must stop if your on the crosswalk (Zebra crossings for non yanks) (unless theres traffic lights). Nice touch,
Property respect. Yes thefts still happen but back home you put up a bus shelter to keep the rain off bus travellers and its gets smashed by some mindless tube in order to "apparently" look big in front of his mates. Leave nets up at a football pitch and they are stolen. Build a nice park for the children to use and its vandalised (Carrick park a perfect example). Over here the parks are immaculate, theres coke vending machines sitting on the streets overnight unprotected, all the courts (of which theres many, basketball, tennis etc,) are left with nets up. I was even conscious on walking home from work today that even the footpaths have no stones on them (realised this as i take Alfie out for a short dander outside our apartment in my socks each night), i counted 2 stones today on my 25 min walk home. Some may think this is unnatural and i suppose in a way it is but still a credit to the street cleanliness.
No racism. Yes I know there is but none that ive seen. Especially nice to see children and adults of all creeds interact at parks but not only that outside of them too. NY at its core has such a diverse culture that i dont think theres any room for it.

The Bad

Rent. While we've found the cost of living to be much of a muchness the cost of rent is pretty steep. Apparently you need to earn 4 times your rent a month in order to live in NY. We live in NJ which is cheaper but would still agree with that.
Car Horns. This nearly made the Ugly list but probably cause im an old road rage grump. Nothing i hate more than people beeping their horn for no reason and while there may be some who take it to extreme going as far as getting bats out of their trunk the majority just beep out of habit and don't even look cross, like they have never pulled over to let a passenger out....
Constant noise. Be it the sirens, the harleys or just the air conditioning there always seems to be a continual noise. I don't think to date we've watched a program without adjusting the volume at least once.
Tipping. its a culture thing. Your suppose to tip 20% for service. I have no prorblem with that if the service is good, the problem is though that your meant to leave that irrelevant. It leaves a bad culture in my eyes. The waiting staff get paid pittance because it will be made up in tips, the bar gets away with charging ridculous prices for drinks and passing on the staff wage to you and the staff have no incentive to actually be nice as the tip is expected. Of course you are free to not tip but you better make that drink last as your not getting another one!
Tax. Be guaranteed never to pay what the price says. They all add a random 8% to most things BUT not all just to keep you on your toes....

The Ugly

Next time you think about moaning about the NHS think again. Just got our first bill in for Ben and Katies vacinations. $1,555, thats £955.94 going by todays conversion rate (I work in FX but still got this from XE.com. Btw were all being ripped off.....). Thankfully i have medical insurance through work (although not free and its not cheap!) but i feel for those that dont have that privilege. I advise you to read this to see what the difference is but whether they make up values here or that's what it actually costs im not sure but its ridiculous! We havent enountered dental or eye care yet but i believe its as bad if not worse. Think twice before slating the NHS again!

http://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/1w0z7h/the_average_hip_replacement_in_the_usa_costs/
Banks/Money/Credit. Doesnt matter how good your credit rating is in the rest of the world, over here its done by Social Security Number so if youve just got one your effectively at square one. That makes apartment deoposits go from $200 to 1 1/2 months rent, no credit cards. no phone contracts unless you have a $500 deposit etc etc,

Additionally the banking system is having a laugh (yes the irony with me working in banking). If you withdraw from any ATM that isnt your own bank its minimum $1.50 to $5.00 charge (possibly higher but thats the worst ive found, obviously if you have just arrived then your hit every time as you dont have an american bank). Most accounts/Credit cards have a yearly charge and if they dont they charge you for pretty much everything you want to do with your card. Add to that their online banking options are poor and limited in options it really makes you miss the Nationwide...

Anyway its late and have to go to work in 6 hours so ill say good night. Ill leave you with some nice pics to show im not really a miserable oul sod :-)