brass and broken arms

When Nicholas was here he noticed that most of the buildings have brass doors, mailboxes, call boxes (doorbells for the whole building), knobs and just about everything else on the front of the building is brass.

Now that he pointed it out I see it so much more. On my way out this morning to drop off my clothes at the lavenderia, I think every portero (doorman) was cleaning the brass. I had to laugh at myself because I've never noticed this before.

Second, he also noticed many people have broken arms here. Hmmmm. I wonder why this is? Is it just the normal amount or did these people get their broken arms from the broken sidewalks? Is there a correlation?