Living in New York vs. London

[hollywood]

But nothing, in the whole of the US for that matter, comes close to the quality & breadth of the British Museum.  

Same answer if you have to return the Elgin Marbles to the Greeks?

to the turks surely - they owned greece at the time they were taken

As they still "own" parts of Armenia?

[tony h]

Ok, next time, when I refer to London, I'll just mean the area around Westminster Abbey and Parliament.  The rest of the city is really a figment of my imagination, just like the Bronx and Queens are irrelevant to this discussion.

Whatever.

SA

or New Jersey where I spent the best part of a year. I could NY from every window but it may as well have been an ocean away for the lack of integration between these two places. NY press barely mention NJ stuff which is quite depressing. A short taxi ride from hoboken to manhattan was extortionately expensive. NJ is treated almost as a separate country which irked no end.

While I’m at it – every tried opening a bank account in the US – its so fucking difficult. I had about 8 different forms of id but most were’t accepted – including a passport (“if you use that we’ll send your statement s to you UK address”. “what id will you accept” “gun permit” was on of the).

Everywhere you go there signs up saying “it’s the law” – so very, very oppressive & your only washing my hands. I don’t how you put up with it.

Drivers licences - how can you be arsed to take that every 3 years?

How do you put up with having to take your test every time you move state?

How do you put up with 50 states each having their own legislature – don’t you think its kind on wasteful. You’re paying for basically the same law 50 times over.

Don’t get me started on the death penalty

(NB I genuinely do love the place – its just that it could be so much better. Also very true of london & the yUK).

[macrosan]

Is it just me that thinks it is odd that Wilf ( actually you do remind me of wilf Lunn )  is using a magazine that originated in London to prove the superioroty of NY?

Just proves his absolute impartiality in his relentless opursuit of the truth

I wouldn't dream of entering a colonial battle as to which city has more of what. Doesn't mean a darn thing. Talk of Blair's "cool Britannia" is, I think, more wishful thinking than reality. Indeed, even the British wish that it were so, but the problem is that it patently isn't.

What really matters in the "personality" of a city is its people. The city you prefer will be determined by which of its people you prefer. And its so difficult to generalize about a body of ten million people, that I wouldn't even attempt to do it.

I love both cities for different things, at different times, and from different perspectives. I'd rather not have to choose

[Wilfrid]

The US obsession with "ID" is indeed irksome. People are always asking to see my driving license, which give me the opportunity of entertaining them by explaining I've never had one. I still get asked for ID in some bars, and I can assure you I don't look under 21. And as I said earlier, some stores ask to see ID when you are returning a purchase. That one bewilders me.

[hollywood]

The US obsession with "ID" is indeed irksome.  People are always asking to see my driving license, which give me the opportunity of entertaining them by explaining I've never had one.  I still get asked for ID in some bars, and I can assure you I don't look under 21.  And as I said earlier, some stores ask to see ID when you are returning a purchase.  That one bewilders me.

Some ask for your zip code. Some ask for all sorts of info if you are paying with check or credit card, but others ask for the same info even if you pay cash. They wanna get you in the database and send you mailers. This always raises the question whether dis-information should be provided.

[macrosan]

Whenever I have produced my UK driving licence in the States, the response has always been roars of laughter. Car rental counter staff find it hilarious. Even a speed cop in New Jersey laughed so much that he couldn't bring himself to write the ticket.

[Wilfrid]

Some ask for your zip code.  Some ask for all sorts of info if you are paying with check or credit card, but others ask for the same info even if you pay cash.  They wanna get you in the database and send you mailers.  This always raises the question whether dis-information should be provided.

Yes, or your telephone number. Even when you're paying cash. When making non-essential purchases, I sometimes simply refuse to give any information. They get really upset.

Also, one isn't plagued by cold-calling telephone marketers in the UK. You can get two or three calls an evening here (I screen calls). I hope the UK hasn't changed in that respect?

[tony h]

Whenever I have produced my UK driving licence in the States, the response has always been roars of laughter. Car rental counter staff find it hilarious. Even a speed cop in New Jersey laughed so much that he couldn't bring himself to write the ticket.

if only true in Kansas - I got a ticket for speeding & another for not stopping in time. I kept to the speed limit for a while but I lept getting run off the road for not going fast enough.

Also - one of the crazyiest things I saw was someone reading a book while driving (on the long straight roads). The slowly drifted from one lane to the next over a 30s period & corrected their direction when they turned the page. It could never happen in the UK - too many bloody roundabouts!

[hollywood]

Whenever I have produced my UK driving licence in the States, the response has always been roars of laughter. Car rental counter staff find it hilarious. Even a speed cop in New Jersey laughed so much that he couldn't bring himself to write the ticket.

OTOH, I inadvertently ran a light in Monaco. When the gendarme pulled me over, he took one look at my license and said, "Oh, California" gave me a lecture and sent me on my way.

[maggiethecat]

Also, one isn't plagued by cold-calling telephone marketers in the UK.  You can get two or three calls an evening here (I screen calls).  I hope the UK hasn't changed in that respect?

That settles it. I'm moving back to that garden-spot Burnley, home of my maternal grandparents.

We don't have caller ID so we can't screen. Last Wednesday I received...I kid you not...fourteen telemarketing calls.

We have begun to receive them on Sunday Morning!

If this activity is not yet prevalent in the UK, it is the clincher.

And those calls that are actually taped messages?

[g.johnson]

The US obsession with "ID" is indeed irksome.  People are always asking to see my driving license, which give me the opportunity of entertaining them by explaining I've never had one.  I still get asked for ID in some bars, and I can assure you I don't look under 21.  And as I said earlier, some stores ask to see ID when you are returning a purchase.  That one bewilders me.

You can get an official picture ID, similar to a driver's license. Look up the NY department of motor vehicles, or whatever they call it.

[g.johnson]

Museums? A tie.

Oh no you don't. NY has MOMA with its truly world class collection - in fact - it sets the level of modern art by which all others are judged.

But nothing, in the whole of the US for that matter, comes close to the quality & breadth of the British Museum.

It was solely on the basis of MOMA that I awarded a tie. What NYC museums have that partially makes up for the relative weakness of their collections is the money spent on their displays. Where the BM has yellowing index cards, the Met has videos.

[Kikujiro]

i. drivers' licenses. A NY-er colleague of mine, now resident in London and back home for the Christmas hols, got a new photo drivers' license, with, he insists, absolutely no proof of identity whatsoever. Is this true? If so, poses interesting dilemmas given the centrality of driver's license to US proof-of-ID proceduer.

ii. telemarketing: still don't get much here. woooooot.

[Liza]

Again, dainty steps, but...it's difficult for me to get my hackles raised when asked for ID. Especially in NYC. When homeless after 9/11/01, I was asked for ID constantly when trying to get anywhere in my neighborhood and I was more than happy to provide it.

[Wilfrid]

The BM has moved beyond yellowing card indexes. But Blind Lemon can address that better than me.

[hollywood]

The BM has moved beyond yellowing card indexes.

What! Is nothing sacred?

[mogsob]

While it is true that the BM's collection of stolen antiquities significantly eclipses that of the various purchased collections residing in NY, it is also true that the BM is so severly underfunded that only an insignificant portion of its collection is displayed. Indeed, in recent years, the BM has had to send its best pieces out of the country to show in other museums to raise operating funds (save for, notably, the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin marbles). By contrast, the Met and other NY museums display virtually their entire collection.

[Wilfrid]

My goodness, there's an awful lot left in the BM anyway. I have long advocated that it charge an admission fee, along with the National Gallery and other similar institutions. It's normal practice in the States. Although the Met, and perhaps other museums, call it a 'voluntary contribution', and indeed you don't have to pay, I suspect almost everyone does.

[hollywood]

My goodness, there's an awful lot left in the BM anyway.  I have long advocated that it charge an admission fee, along with the National Gallery and other similar institutions.  It's normal practice in the States.  Although the Met, and perhaps other museums, call it a 'voluntary contribution', and indeed you don't have to pay, I suspect almost everyone does.

I think BM should go the French way. Have one free day a week; charge admission the rest. That way you know which day to avoid (free day).

[tony h]

7 years toiling at the BM (and 4 at the V&A):

approx 50,000 items on show out of 4 million in the vaults. Its space thats the problem (and miss-management!) - not funds.

Amongsts its lesser known treasures - an egyptia wooden toe with possible gold toenail (now lost) - 100s of not 1000s years BC: arguably oldest artificial limb (I got to hold it one - so smell left)

mad sect of greek monks who target staff (death threats & so on) who worked on the dating of the turin shroud.

The big modernist face in the front gardens (can't remember the sculptor) is/was in danger of falling over due to cat pee corroding the metal

there's a secretum (not on show) where all the porn related stuff is kept - quite an eye opener I've been told (one keeper wouldn't let female staff access incase it shocked them).

we took a mummy to a hospital to cat scan it one evening - a bit spooky - felt like being in a b-movie where the one the glasses gets it first.

during seconf world war - object were moved around the country for safe keeping. mostly stately homes. one landed gentry wrote constalty complaining aobut how much soap was used ny museum staff based their.

letters from howard carter telling of his discovery of king tut were filied in our dept. library

david attenborough is a trustee

biggest selling book a couple of years ago was the jane austin cookbook (had to get something food related in)

anyone can ask for a ticket to access the prints & drawing dept reading room. when there you can ask to see (& hold) the raphael drawings, michaelangelo's & so on. when you do - you have sole access. its a bit of a thrill (i kept worrying - what happens if i sneeze?)

the coins & medals must be the most unremittingly dullest department - ruthlessly boring

enough, enough

[Miss J]

Wow. Thanks, BLH.

I have to say that I love NY. But really, how can it beat sects of mad Greek monks?

[mogsob]

BLH -- can you shed some light on the admission issue at BM? It is my understanding that BM is prohibited from charging even a volunatary admission (like the Met's) due to a trust issue.

[Wilfrid]

As I said, none of the big museum/gallery institutions in London charge admission, although the Tate Modern has invested heavily in donation buckets .

It would indeed be interesting to know if there's a legal reason for this rather than just a well entrenched policy.

[Simon Majumdar]

As I said, none of the big museum/gallery institutions in London charge admission, although the Tate Modern has invested heavily in donation buckets  .

It would indeed be interesting to know if there's a legal reason for this rather than just a well entrenched policy.

It was part of the New Labour manifesto to have free entry to Museums etc

It came in about a year and a half ago and has prompted a 70% rise in attendance

S

[Wilfrid]

Good, but the policy I am referring to has been in place for years. I never paid for BM, the Tate, the NG or anywhere like that, under Thatcher even.