Some years ago in New York, this reporter asked a policeman directions to a particular street. The cop, his shirtfront straining over his stomach, complete with coffee stains, looked into where the mid-distance would be if Penn Station was not in the way, and asked: "Do I look like a f***ing map?"
Two weeks ago, I asked directions of one of New York's finest. This time the trim cop, with iron creases in his immaculate shirt, walked me to a corner, better to show the direction, explained in detail how to get to where I wanted to go, and wished me a good day. One was left with the impression that if he could he would have walked me personally to my destination.
Much has happened in the 20 years that separate the two incidents, but one factor is Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's campaign for a more polite New York. The police have been attending courses on how to be more polite. Patrol cars are emblazoned with the motto, "Professionalism, Courtesy, Respect", and he has established a courtesy commission which explores ways to make New Yorkers more polite.
In Greenwich Village one fastfood joint has a giant banner outside, saying: "Come in, We are Polite New Yorkers."
It is all very odd. New York is meant to be an edgy city, fuelled by coffee and adrenaline. Taxidrivers are meant to be rude, sales assistants indifferent. Now, when you get into a taxi a notice lists your rights as a cab user. Now Giuliani's campaign has reached everyone. In shops the assistants are bright and bubbly. "How are you today?" they chirp. Waiters, or waitpersons, want to know so much about you, you think they might adopt you. In bookshops the assistants say, "Wow, what a great choice!" when you present your books for payment.
There is one exception to all this courtesy. No one is expected to be polite to George Steinbrenner, the main owner of New York's premier baseball team, the Yankees, because Mr Steinbrenner wants to move Yankee Stadium out of the South Bronx to just about anywhere else.
It was assumed he would move, if he could, to New Jersey, but now Mayor Giuliani has suggested moving to 34th Street in Manhattan, and the city will build the stadium for Mr Steinbrenner.
One can understand why New Yorkers love Yankee Stadium. It is known as "the house that Ruth built" after the legendary Yankee player, Babe Ruth, and was built in 1923.
It looks like ballparks are meant to look. To walk out onto the stand and see the manicured grass, the yellow of the sanded diamond and the bases is to walk into an Edward Hopper painting or a cover of the Saturday Evening Post. There are no Sky-boxes, retractable roof or even any obvious corporate boxes. For all this tradition New Yorkers are willing to queue for ages for really awful beer and a hot-dog, and spend ages getting out of the car-park, though the subway takes fans right to the door.
For Steinbrenner, though, a new stadium would mean vast potential profits from corporate sponsorship and entertainment. While the stadium is stuck in a run-down part of the South Bronx he is unlikely to achieve his ambition. That was until a month ago. The week after the season opened, when the Yankees had won two games, a beam fell from one of the stands to the seats below. No one was in the stadium at the time, but the Mayor arrived, wearing his Yankees jacket, and said he was terribly concerned and that it was time the city built a new stadium that would bring billions into the city and keep the Yankees in New York.
The stadium was declared perfectly safe. The city authorities allowed it to reopen, but the debate had begun.
Giuliani is now proposing a stadium for both New York teams, the Yankees and the Mets. He has proposed keeping a commercial rent tax, which he had planned to scrap, calling it a "terrible tax" to pay not for schools or the city's deficit, but a ballpark.
At a time when the free market is king, it is difficult to understand why a Republican mayor is willing to pay for a baseball stadium. As the New York Times columnist, Bob Herbert, said: "If the new stadiums are such goldmines, then why aren't private interests rushing to finance their construction? The answer is that private interests can make a lot of money from the stadiums as long as they don't have to pay to build them. The real goldmine is the city treasury, and Mr Giuliani has graciously invited Mr Steinbrenner and Mr Wilpon (the owner of the Mets) to come in and stake their claim."