In New York last month I was struck by how friendly people were. We stayed in the same place as always – our friend’s apartment in a large building on the Upper West Side – and this time people talked to us in the elevator, something I don’t remember happening on previous visits, all of which were pre-COVID. Did the pandemic make New Yorkers more outgoing?
I was also struck by how often, when we mentioned where we were visiting from, people told of a connection to South Florida. Everyone seemed either to have family here or to be snowbirds themselves. It was like being in Ireland and saying you're American.
