It is bizarre how obvious some holiday trends are here in the city. And Memorial Day is one such holiday that I am just downright grateful for. Not only is it a quiet, somber holiday, it affects the city in other ways as well.

It's a bank holiday and even the markets are closed. So, the 4 million or so people that usually commute in to work on Mondays don't bother to journey to my island, they stay home. Add to that, the who-knows-how-many hundreds of thousands of people that left my island for the long weekend. On top of that, no one says, "Memorial Day? Let's go to New York!" So there are a few hundred thousand less tourists. And finally, sailors. Fleet Week. Need I say more?

All in all it was a fantastic, calm, beautiful weekend. This place is far more enjoyable with 5-ish million fewer people. Okay, so there are aircraft carriers in the harbor, but on land there is less trash, less people, less cars, less stink, shorter lines, open seats on the train. All this = MUCH BETTER MANHATTAN!