The first time that I saw a squirrel in New York I was enchanted. Yes, I was surprised, a lot of things in New York are surprising; but I should really have been prepared for the squirrels.
"Look! It's a squirrel", I gasped to a long term New Yorker.
We were on 19th, somewhere down around 5th, and my guide wasn't stopping to look at squirrels. I, on the other hand, was now tittering at the squirrel about how cute he was and what a lovely big tail he had.
"Come along dear, we don't talk to squirrels on the street in this neigbourhood."
I stood corrected.
A few weeks later I would see an example of the notorious New York mega-rats. I was walking back to Hotel Chelsea from TriBeCa enjoying playing at big, tough leather clad flaneur in New York. Any facade of neuvo-butch was quickly dropped when the rat stepped into my path.
I hope never to see another creature quite so repulsive as this rat ever again. It was quite large enough to seem to present an immediate threat. The look of utter defiance that it fixed me with was pure New York attitude, De Niro in Taxi Driver stuff. It clearly had no fear of me and stood effectively blocking the footpath.
Being a meek and ultimately self-preserving hick from Sydney, I stepped onto the street and let the rat have the footpath.