Work trip to Philadelphia, USA - 23rd to 27th July 2007

Another trip to Philadelphia, to work for a week, and generally an opportunity to get into American life. Having been a couple of times before, much of the novelty has worn off now, so I am getting a bit more of a realistic view of what it must be like to live and work here. During the week, I went to see Morrissey in Philadelphia, and The White Stripes in New York, as well as going out for lots of food and drink in the centre of Philadelphia. Being July, it was humid throughout, and with temperatures in the 30s - a welcome change from the torrential rain in England!

One thing that definitely struck home this time, (partly because I am now more used to the place, so I explored a bit more) is that, apart from the very centre of the city, which is very nice, things get run-down and shitty quite quickly. There is an area of around half a dozen blocks square which is really nice (including the Love Statue, pictured here), but as you walk outside that area, you get to dodgy areas before too long. Lots of the city is what you could call "blighted", so the land values are low (in fact, sometimes lower than the cost of putting a building there), there are bail bond shops, and other run down businesses, and the streets seem edgy. If you stay in the very centre of the city, all looks well, but overall, Philadelphia is not the nicest city around - something which is also very noticeable on the way in from the airport. In many ways it is not unlike many cities in the North-East of the country, but given that it used to be the capital, and played a key role in the foundation of the country, it is a shame to see a city that is suffering from modern urban problems.

I noticed this time, whilst walking around, that there are definitely more mental people on the streets of US cities, than you see in European cities. This is possibly because the disabled, and war veterans in particular, are not looked after very well here. It is almost certainly also because good healthcare is something that is only available to the rich. Prospective candidates for the Presidency seem to be making positive noises about this, in particular about how the rest of the world does not have this problem, because they see healthcare as a social virtue, rather than an opportunity for insurance and pharmaceutical companies to make lots of money. But who knows whether anything will change for the better, when somebody eventually gets elected.

Everything in the US is of course covered in glossy marketing sugar coating, designed to make everything seem very slick, and generally much better than it really is. So, one does not "drink" a beverage, one "enjoys" a beverage - and you cannot use an ATM (which of course is a cashpoint anyway really), you use a "conveniently-located ATM". You are never allowed to forget how convenient things are (you even end up paying hidden "convenience charges"), or how you can have everything "your way", with a million and one choices about everything. I'd much prefer to decide for myself whether something is convenient, or if I am going to enjoy it, so it all gets quite annoying in a short space of time. When you order in a restaurant, and the waitress says "good choice", you think about how fake many things are, and what they would say if they thought you had made a shitty choice.

All of that said, if you are staying centrally and working in Philadelphia, it is a very liveable place, with a great number of excellent bars and restaurants - in particular handful of brilliant restaurants by Stephen Starr, who is something of a local celebrity. Although much American food is too fatty, bad for you and artificial, the good stuff really does rank up there with the best you can find anywhere in the world. So, lots of good eating, some good work, and hopefully a return visit soon.