Urban Village Haunts

I had a fantastic time in the West Village with Karen today. After the customary visits to consumer palaces for young people (such as Urban Outfitters and Abercrombie & Fitch) it was refreshing to be out in the open, on a warm, autumn afternoon on a terrace eating fine refreshments and just enjoying each other's company. So, glass of chilled Prosecco in hand and sun filtering through the leafy street near Perry and Bleeker, I decided I loved urban village life. We watched the locals riding past on their bikes,  pushing their strollers and bouncing by on sneakers and lycra. Of course, the most famous local was conspicuous by her absence. Carrie's house was just around the corner from the atmospheric "Extra Virgin" restaurant where we were quite adequately sustained, so I finally got to see a local landmark from the popular and trend-setting series and movie for which I have a warm fondness. 

Saying goodbye to my daughter with a "See you in Rio in January" line following the hugs and tears was not the best end to the day. Between now and then she will be off traveling half way round the world on her own. I will certainly be linking into her blog and following her trail. Good luck, Karen, and missing you already!

Neil Simon

Who hasn't seen "Barefoot in the Park" with Jane Fonda and Robert Redford or the "Odd Couple" with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemon? Both were written with typical New York humour by Neil Simon. How lucky I was then to be able to get tickets to see Brighton Beach Memoirs on Broadway tonight. Such skilled script-writing that moved you to both laughter and watery eyes.  

Young Eugene starts to "blog" about his life in a struggling, immigrant family home in Brooklyn, noting every funny, quirky quote and chronicling each person's story; his parents, his aunt, his cousins, his older brother and even the neighbour across the street. The backdrop of 1937 lent another worldly dimension to the family dynamic with the looming war and the imminent arrival of the extended family from Poland. "I bet I'll even get the blame for the outbreak of war" notes the long suffering teen who feels the brunt of all the malaise of the family. You cannot help but love the sheer magic of the words, the sentiment of the play and the warmth of the humour. 

So now I have another league to attain, the Neil Simon blog language that can transport you all into my world of everyday situations and thoughts with amusement and interest. At dinner in Le Marais, my daughter Karen told me how much she had loved the play and appreciated all the Jewish references and typecasting. 

Her friend from North London, Victoria, a theatre director and now TV head of production was relishing her Jewishness in New York, remarking how at home she was feeling.  In London, her friends mistook her fancy mezuza on her door for an air freshener!

Okay, I now know why I chose the title for my blog. Yes, I was born in Burma. I now live in New York and I consider myself a Jew...el.

New York from a Non-Seinfeld Point of View

Within four decades I have come from Moulmein to London to New York. Today, the first day of my blog, I just happen to be watching one of my favourite comedy series on my large flat screen tv in midtown manhattan, Curb Your Enthusiasm, while trying to write my first piece. It's the "reunion of Seinfeld" show, the original everyday blog of an everyday kind of guy in New York, Jerry Seinfeld.  What a clever premise to put a "reunion show" into a current, popular series, weaving it into the storyline of a reality script. The whole "Curb.." series is a unique, titillating experience on TV with Larry David behaving as most people's secret inner ego. He voices every neurotic, petty, obnoxious point you can think of and throws it out to his entourage. It is totally unpredictable, embarrassing, cringing and yet highly entertaining. 

Though I cannot possibly wish to be in the league of David and Seinfeld, my blog will, I hope, reflect humour and every day life in New York as seen from my point of view - a British/Burmese/Armenian married to a great New York Jewish doctor.