Another retirement requirement
New York City is a wonderful place for a Jew to live. There are so many synagogues, Jewish day schools, Jewish book and Judaica stores, kosher restaurants, and kosher food stores here.
But New York City can also be a terrible place for a Jew to live, especially without a car, if one's neighborhood has almost none of the above even within delivery range, much less within walking distance.
Sure, I can go shopping after work and clean out West Side Judaica (hmm, I thought there was more info on their website--maybe it's malfunctioning), Kosher Marketplace, and/or the Upper West Side Supersol. But I still have to haul the stuff home by subway. I'm 60 years old. How much longer am I going to be able to shop by backpack?
It's the same when the hubster and I go shopping in the nearest kosher shopping area out in beyond-the-subway land. We end up making the return trip via bus and subway with heaven knows how many pounds of groceries on my back, and with my 67-year-old husband looking like an old-fashioned water carrier because of all the shopping bags hanging from each arm.
We need to live in a neighborhood that's close enough to kosher stores that we can have our groceries delivered. Any other grocery-transport method simply won't be viable in 20 years.
See also my Retirement reality.
But New York City can also be a terrible place for a Jew to live, especially without a car, if one's neighborhood has almost none of the above even within delivery range, much less within walking distance.
Sure, I can go shopping after work and clean out West Side Judaica (hmm, I thought there was more info on their website--maybe it's malfunctioning), Kosher Marketplace, and/or the Upper West Side Supersol. But I still have to haul the stuff home by subway. I'm 60 years old. How much longer am I going to be able to shop by backpack?
It's the same when the hubster and I go shopping in the nearest kosher shopping area out in beyond-the-subway land. We end up making the return trip via bus and subway with heaven knows how many pounds of groceries on my back, and with my 67-year-old husband looking like an old-fashioned water carrier because of all the shopping bags hanging from each arm.
We need to live in a neighborhood that's close enough to kosher stores that we can have our groceries delivered. Any other grocery-transport method simply won't be viable in 20 years.
See also my Retirement reality.
posted by Shira Salamone at 11:04 AM
4 Comments:
Don't they have, um, taxicabs? I lived in cities far more auto-oriented than NYC without cars, and took cabs when I had a lot of groceries to lug around. Not as cheap as walking but still a lot cheaper than owning a car.
We take a taxi to haul home the Pesach groceries, but we may, indeed, have to start taking taxis home from kosher grocery shopping more often.
May you be inscribed in the book of speedy and competent taxicabs! (smile)
:)
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