It feels so safe here!

Throughout my trip I have been astounded by how much safer NYC has been than I had imagined. Not that I scare particularly easily, but I had visions of rather aggressive, pushy people with an 'in your face' attitude along with restless, if I am honest, mainly black youths, possibly armed, hanging on street corners in the less affluent districts. None of these fears were realised, whether in uptown Manhattan, downtown Soho or across the water in out of town Brooklyn. Even the drivers are markedly less aggressive than in the UK with drivers proceeding cautiously at right turns and being patient with pedestrians at lights and this can't all be down to the price of gas! (the greatest danger comes from cyclists, especially at night, as they dodge about as in the UK, but unlike at home, with no lights). No worries about the iPhone either. Nearly everybody, grannies included, appears to have one and if not they've got a Blackberry!

How to explain the difference? Partly, I think, it is a result of a Citywide strategy developed over the last 20 or so years. Police are everywhere with, for example, a patrol car passing every five or so minutes in Central Park. After all tourism is NY' biggest industry. I also get the feeling from the more deferential attitude shown, that youth and others feel less like messing the police about than in the UK.

At a deeper level, folks here seem genuinely more considerate. They truly do want you to 'have a good day'. This appears to be part and parcel of the American psyche or dream as articulated by President Obama at the inauguration. People here are, it seems, for the most part working hard to achieve a more civil society. Or to put it another way, their individualism is not as individualistic as ours.