The Most Unbiquitous Things in New York

Every city has its common objects, its landmarks and those foods or characteristics for which it is known best.

People probably think of the Statue of Liberty, hotdogs, yellow cabs, the Empire state building and so on.

Living here I would like to add a few more items to the list. While they make not be as widely known in the world, I assure you that you are probably more likely to run into going along the streets of the city.

They are, drum roll please:
Orchids
iPhones
emergen-C



Orchids are everywhere in this city. In windows of restaurants, salons, shoe stores, fancy department stores, apartment lobbies, offices (there are two in my office). Faux or real, they're all over.

Somehow they seem to me a perfect plant for New York. Like New Yorks, who spend much of their time scurrying around at the bottom of a tall maze of skyscraper like so many ants at the roots of grass stalks, orchids require indirect light. Perfect for midtown, where the closest glimpse of sky you often get is its reflection in the glass of the buildings towering over you.

Orchids have something flimsy or delicate in their appearance; at least the general species found all over here. Actual subtropical ones may be hardier in appearance for all I know. But the New York type are pretty flexible -though I wouldn't credit all New Yorkers with that trait. They balance out pretty well with a good number of people being flexible and accommodating while others are thoroughly intractable.

The blossoms are ornate and delicate looking. So much flash to my mind. I prefer tulips. But flash is what so much of this place is about. Appearance does seem to count for a lot. If you aren't walking around with an actual Prada bag or Coach purse, then you're walking around with a fake one bought from a street corner vendor for 1/10th the official price. Which is still enough to eat off of for about three meals.

iPhones are everywhere as well, fast outpacing the Blackberry, or crack-berry, it seems to me. On the one hand it allows people to communicate and solve things quicker, keep business flowing, allay fears, confirm appointments, send a note to family or a friend. But on the other hand they have an addictive allure. They put you on an umbilical cord to work and the obligation to respond instantly all the time.

And because people here are so busy all the time, the simple things often get left by the wayside. Like eating. If you ever wondered why the women of New York were often so slender and thin; I suspect in large part is has nothing to do with health consciousness or gym memberships, but rather than fact that people literally do not have time to eat. The day is too short and the business too pressing and so on. This I do not like. If I don't eat at regular intervals my muscles start to liquify -which makes it hard to do work, or anything for that matter. And no amount of fruit bar or trail mix stored in the desk drawer can quite take the place of a normally consumed meal.

New York has a solution though. Drinkable food. There are any number of brightly colored powders you can buy and mix into a bottle of water (also a common New York sight) and imbibe. Instead of eating normally. Emergen-c is big at the moment because it boosts the immune system and it is cold season.

But the hustle and bustle of the city will keep us warm for now, the emergen-c will keep us healthy and going, the iphone will keep us in touch and the orchids will give a touch of class.