Downtown is history

I’m just back from ten days on business in New York. I had a full agenda, which included working most of lastweekend. However I found a moment on Sunday afternoon to break out of my hotel room and wander the streets of Lower Manhattan. I almost felt like a local as I made my way past familiar sights; the distant Statue of Liberty, the battered sculpture rescued from the World Trade Centre plaza and the bronze bull near Wall Street.


I was also keen to stop by the World Trade Centre site as I’d heard that rebuilding was well underway. The site is a hive of construction. In its north-west corner the steel frame of Freedom Tower has already risen more than 30 metres above street level, while the toxic hulk of the Deutsche Bank building is almost completely demolished.


While in New York, I also flew upstate to visit our Rochester office for a day. I’d last been in this city in 1983 as a young exchange student. However, only the distinctive saucer silhouette of the First Federal Building’s former revolving restaurant triggered any memories. Staff tell me the restaurant has long since closed. It seems that, much like my video from the WTC observation deck, my memories are increasingly filled with history rather than present day reality.