There is a lot of hustle and bustle here in New York. I've never been in a place where the fight for survival and to bring home the dinero has been so vigorous. I see people selling things from the crack of dawn until after the sun has set.
When I went to Harlem for the first time, I saw a lot of people trying to flog their personal possessions from clothes, electrical goods to jewellery. Many of them looked over 50 years old.
In Central Park, there was a woman selling ice cold-water with her two young children for a dollar. It was a very hot day and people were buying from her. There was also a family having a barbecue and passers by were getting food from them too. The food smelt so nice!
In Jamaica Queens there are a group of people that sell blocks ice in a cup which you cover in fruit flavoured syrup of your choice. They also sell fruit sorbets that's kept on freezer typed carts on a shopping trolley (picture below). I had one on Saturday and I really liked it.
In the subway and sometimes on the train you see people singing, dancing or playing an instrument, using their talents to make money.
I rate all these people because they are not just sitting down waiting for the government, family or friends to provide for them. They are going out and making money.
They work really hard and as many are finding it hard to get a job, they are using what they have to bring home the cash.
In England there are so many laws and regulations that prohibit these activities, unless you have a license. I am aware that they are certain places in New York that you need to have a license (a pedlar's license) to sell stuff.
Being here, I have seen why they call the United States, the land of the free! There are opportunities here that you don't get elsewhere. In the short space I have been here, I have had opportunities that are scarce or very hard to get in England!
No comments:
Post a Comment