Great sights to see in New York, Australia, London and Israel - but could you live there? Comic song

I was wondering about this and wrote a comic song to sum up my feelings, putting the case for and against the frenetic city life and buzz of New York city contrasted with the laid back lifestyle of Australia.

In America and Singapore (and Asia - where the hard-working Chinese run businesses) you often see people working late at night and weekends.

Singaporeans can enjoy a giant waterfall for free at the Jewel shopping mall by terminal one at Changi airport. Within the city there's the peaceful, free Botanical Gardens and the Night Safari.

Singaporeans travel to Malaysia to shop and to Australia to relax. The Aussies might stop work at five and go off for the beach and beer party.

Australia
Ayers rock is no longer a free for all. Many start with Sydney, its opera house and bridge, a dinner joining in the chorus of Waltzing Mathilda. Others prefer Perth. Or drive along the Great Ocean Road to see the 'Twelve' Apostles, mis-counted pillars in the sea. 

Israel's Attractions
In Israel the city people often have two jobs to make ends meet. But the religious people stop work for the Sabbath. However, the majority of the world's Jews are in the USA and are secular.

Israel has the antiquities in Jerusalem with its museums and sacred places of all religions, See the old city of Jerusalem with its quarters for Arabs with the great mosque, Below the mosque is the Jewish Wailing Wall, all that is left of the great synagogue, the tunnel, Christian Armenians, and Roman remains, mosaics of old synagogues from the time of Jesus, churches galore,biblical memories of Abraham and Solomon, David and New Testament's Jesus.  You stay in cities such as see the art deco (actually Bauhaus) white Thirties city of Tel Aviv.  Or out to visit a hotel on a green kibbutz, the pool and waterfall oasis of Ein Gedi or the rust coloured desert and tall Pillars of Solomon, Masada, or the beaches of Eilat and float on the Dead Sea.

Malaysia
Malaysia, Singapore's northerly neighbour, is much more laid back than Singapore. The Malays are not Arabs. They are party people. An American expat told me her husband was sent to manage the opening of a factory in Malaysia. They took on staff and the first week all went well. Friday the staff all got their first week's wages.

Monday nobody turned up. They were happy to sit around until the money ran, out and then go back to ask for a job.

You have the city of KL with the twin towers familiar from the movie Entrapment featuring Catherine Zeta-Jones.


American flag

USA
Of course, having lived in the USA I know that not all America is the same. New York, New York. The UN, the twin towers memorial, the spiral Guggenheim gallery of art, or to Ellis Island and the statue of Liberty on a ferry.

The south is more relaxed. They speak slower, too.

The West coast is more relaxed than the East with coastal LA and misty, artsy hilly San Francisco, or off to the wine country. The real cities or the fantasies of Disney in California or Florida. You have a choice, cities or scenery.

At the weekends we used to drive off. You can go out of the cities to see the blue ridge parkway along the east coast, or over to the the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Monument Valley and numerous national Parks.

Here is my Song:

We went for a walk around New York and I said, 

Let’s talk about New York

I said, 'The skyscrapers are a mile high ..!'

But he said, 'You can hardly see the sky!'

I said, ‘This is the place I want to live!’ but he said;

 ‘One of us has to give

'I want to live in Australia, 

the place where I was born

'I want to see the sunset

 in the place where I saw dawn

'You would love koala bears

And you'd love the kangaroos!'

But I said, "And be eaten by crocodiles!

But to you this isn't news.'

He took my hand and with a smile
Said, 'Florida has crocodiles'

Yes, take a tour of them, alone
This land has troubles of its own

I shrugged, though I was broken-hearted 

But bravely smiled as he departed

But every year we meet again 

and we repeat the same refrain

I say, “Let’s walk around New York, 

Don’t you love it? Let’s have a talk,’

I say, ‘This is the place I want to live,’

But he says: ‘One of us has to give

'You’re the only thing I lack and 

That’s why each year I come back

'Yes, my dear, I love it here

But I'm going home to the beach and the beer

' 'cos I want to live in Australia,

 The place where I was born

'I’m going back, to see the last sunset, 

In the place where I first saw the dawn.’

...

D'you want to know the moral?

I know that you're not thick

But I assure you others are

Thick as two short planks and a brick

The lover's moral is think before

'Cos war brings love but love brings war 

Before you pick a foreign love

Decide if you're prepared to move

If not, the moral's plain to see

You'll end up single just like me.

I'd be the one who you forget
If it wasn't for the internet 

'I know you've a good memory

But others are a pain

'You tell them once, tell them twice

Then have to tell the story again.'

'Yes, I have a great memory

But I love to hear your voice

'I listen to the same old stories

Old friends don't have a choice

"I'd rather hear about old times

Than hear of other men

'So you tell me about our love

I'll hear it once again.'

We went for a walk around New York and I said, 

'Let’s talk about New York,'

I said, 'The skyscrapers are a mile high ..!'

But he said, 'You can hardly see the sky!'

I said, ‘This is the place I want to live!’ but he said;

 ‘One of us has to give

I have nothing more to say
But can't you meet me half way?

And so we went to London
Met on St Pancras station



But that was neither here nor there
Just a brief vacation

We went for a walk around New York and I said, 

Let’s talk about New York

I said, 'The skyscrapers are a mile high ..!'

But he said, 'You can hardly see the sky!

'I want to live in Australia, 

the place where I was born

'I want to see the sunset

 in the place where I saw dawn.'

'So you stay there - and I'll stay here
And we must meet again - next year!'

-ends-

Copyright Angela Lansbury
The penultimate verse sounded like he was about to commit suicide if young or die if old. I decided to give it a happy and humorous ending. The song structure is 'a round'.

I hope you like the pictures I picked. The Israeli sculpture has the @ sign in the man's head as well as the wheels.

Photos
USA
I love New York

AUSTRALIA
The 12 apostles, on the Great Ocean Road, AustraliaBeer photo in Wikipedia under beer article, photo by kgbo.

Koala bear, Australia

Koala and Kangaroo road sign, Australia

'Crocodiles, no swimming' warning, Australia

US flag

Beer, Australia

Ayers Rock, Australia

Internet sculpture in Israel.

Date	15 June 2013
Source	Dr. Avishai Teicher via the PikiWiki - Israel free image collection project
Author	Dr. Avishai Teicher
Permission (Reusing this file)	This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license. Attribution: Dr. Avishai Teicher Pikiwiki Israel

New York street scene

St Pancras station, lovers meeting or farewell, sculpture, London, England, UK. In Wikipedia, photo by Oxyman.

Useful Websites
Singaporeair.com

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Town Planning: Skyscrapers; Green Wall; Balconies; Trees; Fruit Trees worldwide

London

What are the elements which every building should have? 

1 Access to parking for delivery vehicles and emergency vehicles. How are the handicapped, the letters, parcel post delivery, the furniture, the ambulance and the fire brigade ladders going to reach the building?

2 Emergency exits, fire escapes.

3 Windows to signal that you need help, windows to allow ventilation, sunlight for vitamin D to occupants.

4 Sustainability - workplaces nearby.

5 Food production places nearby. What happens in a tidal wave, ash preventing flights, flooding, fire, bombing, isolation due to sinkholes, famine from harvest, wartime, civil riots, snow and ice underfoot, kids are quarantined, granny breaks her ankle or hip? Yes, you could grow mushrooms under the sink, and tomatoes on the windowsill - if you had a sunny window. A 

Colour, Curves and Comfort

Worst new: Harrow is becoming oppressive with huge windowless walls rising from the pavement. 

Best new: It is good to plant trees to break up the paving area and this is being done in the upgraded outdoor pedestrian shopping area linking the two big malls, St George's, which has friezes of St George inside at the top, which most people probably don't even notice, and St Ann's opposite the Harrow on the Hill railway and bus station.

Best Old

Here's old Harrow, with horizontal lines, arched windows, arched architraves, statues with semicircular plinths adding more curves. Patterned brickwork.

Best Design

The new complex which has been finished after years of being empty, is both curved and stepped. (But a commentator said that curved walls are a nuisance from the inside because it's hard to get an office desk and furniture to fit.

Worst Windows

The worst windows are the tiny ones. The worst balconies are the tiny ones too small for you to sit on a chair or a low lounger.

Food and Famine in France

Goose Fat and Garlic by Jeanne Strang, Country recipes from South-west France, revealed the history of peasant farming in the area. After years of famines causing peasant farmers to lose their entire crop, their living, privation and starvation, the country farmers learned to have rotating crops. For the dwellers in flats , allotments should be provided. If you have a piece of land in mid-air, you need a garden on top of the flat below in a stepped building, an allotment in the free area around the base of a skyscraper, or allotments within walking distance.

Singapore Fruit Trees In The Street

In Singapore I walked along a street towards a bus stop passing mango trees which had mangoes lying on the ground. If every city was lined with fruit trees, we could alleviate starvation and poverty. And teach children and adults about the value of trees and fruit, and being a vegetarian or fruitarian.

Mango Tree

Mango fruit

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

I can see the problems. The children and maid of the house next to the mango tree take all the fruit. The coconut palm is a danger to people and passing cars when the coconuts fall. So people must be employed and trained and insured and paid to pick the coconuts before coconuts fall of their own accord.

Worst Walls

The worst walls are those right next to the pavement and going up sheer.

I believe buildings should be stepped. For three reasons.

1) Safety. In a fire or disaster you have only one level to descend to escape flames and damage.

2) Flat roofs are are needed for infinity swimming pools and helicopter landings. However, in the UK you need steep diagonal roofs, rarely for snow, but often for rain.

Drive over the bridge over Harrow and Wealdstone station outside the civic centre. Skyscrapers are built so close to the road, that the poor little balconies must be filled with fumes. The windows view traffic and hear noise. 

Best Balconies

I see the adverts for new flats in the area of Harrow, all over London, and in Singapore. I am very glad that people in flats are being offered balconies. Otherwise you are in a prison cell all summer, and in the evenings. 

With global warming, and people used to living in flats in hot countries, or coming from houses with gardens, more people expect balconies. The youngsters and yuppies want to sit on balconies for evening drinks and meals. The poor and the pensioners want their washing on the balconies (discreetly hidden by frosted glass or low bamboo fencing).

Beautiful bridges

Bridges bedecked with flowers from Changi airport into the city centre and all over the city roadways.

London - building of the garden bridge, not yet open.

Singapore - art bridge at Robertson Quay

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer