New York

I couldn't sleep last night. In the end I got up and read up about New York and followed a few NYC based Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. This time next week I'll be in New York. 

Before my first trip to the US in 2011 I wrote a blog post about what I was expecting and when we went to Miami and then San Diego I discovered that the US is not what I expected in many ways and exactly what I expected in other ways. The trouble is in the UK we are surrounded by American culture through TV, film and literature and it's everywhere but of course it's not real! . 

So if the US culture I've gladly swallowed ranges from Westerns to the X-Files, Breaking Bad to Stephen King, Hollywood blockbusters, Little House on the Prairie and Huckleberry Finn it's no wonder my experience of Florida and California were some how lacking. There were no aliens, no Cowboys, no small towns haunted by evil clowns!

When I consider my cultural references for New York they're equally odd. Sesame Street, Fame, Ghostbusters, Cagney and Lacey were the New Yorks of my childhood. (Cagney and Lacey was actually filmed in Canada and LA!!) as a child I thought New York must be full of joggers grabbing hot dogs, women cops fighting crime, grouches living in bins, kids dancing in the streets and lots of ghosts! The kid in me is going to be so disappointed! But I'm sure in so many other ways I'm going to be delighted and surprised!