Weather and manicures

It is hot again today. This should come as no surprise because the little symbol on the weatherman's chart today on the morning news was a barbeque. I kid you not. Really hot places just have a fire (like Phoenix where it is currently 45 degrees!), NY at 34 warrants a bbq, and anywhere with a chance of thunderstorms has two little people under an umbrella being chased by a sharp bolt! Fool proof I guess.
I just returned from the "Irish" pub down the road where a few of us ducked out to watch the England-Sweden match. All I can say is send Campbell and Crouch home immediately ... (and I usually don't mind Campbell). Of course the pub was supercooled as is everywhere else - frostbite here I come!
Today I also had my first NY manicure. I am not a manicure junkie but could easily now become one. My nails are now buffed and polished by my Russian friend, and literally you just walk up some steep dodgy stairs, through a small door, and there is a bank of ladies ready and waiting to do their worst. As usual the tipping comes into it, but the etiquette is - go in, get allocated a lady. She will shape, buff, oil, and massage. Then you pay the bill to her (about USD10), she goes and gets change (conveniently including many singles) and you tip her (I tipped USD1.50, but probably should have tipped USD2). She then paints your nails, puts on top coat, and puts you under a blower to dry them. Then you leave. Whole thing takes about 20 minutes. Perfect. And I have glossy pink nails that are flashing as I type. The kind of sad thing though was that the lady doing my nails had terribly cracked and ripped nails with no polish on them at all. My experience of manicures in the UK and Australia were that they were much more expensive, no tipping, and the girls were beautifully manicured themselves. I am almost felt at the end of the session that we should swap and I would do hers. Wonder what she would have said if I had offered?
On other interesting news, my little blog is officially banned by the Australian defence force now! My good friend who is a very important Army Intelligence sergeant, has been told he is being officially investigated because of trying to log into my wee blog. Well, it stands to reason that any blog could really be a subversive information gathering site for the axis of evil? Why not one with my dull and tedious opinions and day to day activities in NY?