It is 42 years since, as a teenage exchange student, I emerged from the Port Authority bus terminal and looked at New York in wonder. The city thrilled me then, and after many visits — six in the past 18 months alone — it still does.
People complain that New York, like many large cities, has become too expensive for most, including the creative types who gave it its edge. Those who have lost out — the derelict, the homeless — are distressingly visible, but New York at least feels safe, which is a remarkable change for those who knew it in earlier decades.
And, whatever some locals say, it still feels wonderfully vibrant: the art, the theatre, the excellence of neighbourhood restaurants, the sense of possibility as you step on to the street each day.