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| Leroy! |
Why Pittsburgh? Well, for one thing, you don't see wildlife on the streets of New York City ~ except for rats, with four (and two) legs, although I infinitely preferred the former over the latter. That's my friend Leroy at left (pronounced Lee-ROY! for his strut and attitude) and thus far, I have spotted wild turkeys (Leroy and his girls,) raccoons, a jack rabbit, possum and a deer who returned the next day with her fawn...what's better than that??
For another, as I answered a former neighbor in that disgusting NYC egg crate co-op apartment building where I used to live, "To start with, it has 7 million less people" ~ something I do NOT want to change in spite of our new Mayor-Elect Bill Peduto's promise to revitalize Pittsburgh's image and standing among American cities. YOU try going to the Dept. of Motor Vehicles in the center of Manhattan and not only find a (free) parking space on the street, but also be greeted by a smile and good manners by DMV employees who speedily do their job (sans snotty attitude) and then be back home in TEN minutes. HA! Fat chance. Yup. From the city to the country, just like that! SNAP!
A friend recently told me about a TV sitcom that had its star frantically looking for "the cheapest flight to any American city" (but the one he was in) and when the airline came up with Pittsburgh, he answered "Okay, what's the second cheapest flight?" Fine with me, even though it further contributed to my new hometown's negative reputation. After living 60+ years in a city of 10 million people, please DON'T come here or you might discover a funky, funny, diverse and eclectic little town that remains 70% forest because, just like La La LA, it is spread out and allows wide open spaces to remain that way. Not to mention its excellent colleges and universities...University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon, Duquesne...shall I go on?
Not to mention P-burgh was the home of Andrew Carnegie, Andy Warhol, Arnold Palmer, Billy Eckstine, Art Blakey, Gertrude Stein, Gene Kelly, Errol Garner, Fred Rogers...the list goes on, and Mister Rogers must have been singing about his home town neighborhood. Never in my life have I been greeted with so many smiles, waves, and open arms. "A wonderful day in the neighborhood" indeed!
And I (of course) wound up in a little enclave chock full of some of the most eccentric, hilarious, truly 'salt of the earth' people I've ever met. Having grown up in the Arthur Avenue section of the Bronx (Little Italy in the Bronx) when it still was Little Italy, also filled with eccentric, hilarious, salt of the earth people, being here is a little bit like going home...
Stay tuned, more to come! Lots more!
PS,
And, former co-op, I'm allowed to have a dog now, so I think you know what you can do with your BS rules & regulations.
