If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god

Or at least that is what Napoleon said. And I agree. It is sunny today (ish). It is also the coldest day for a long time - strange. I do like sunbaths I have to say, so have been dodging around tall skyscrapers today looking for those little patches of blue. It will be brief though, they are still predicting torrential rain Saturday, wet wet on Sunday, and overcast and irritable on Monday ...
Of course, I also spent 30 minutes today underground in Penn Station buying my Amtrak tickets to Boston. I like to buy at the counter - you get the tickets you want in your hot sweaty hand. Of course I also had Curtis serving me ... Curtis was behind the glass booths next to his pal Jerome, who was serving another customer. Unfortunately, the other customer was Curtis' "homegirl". I know this, because Curtis loudly announced it as he told his pal Jerome what to do. to me - "that's one ticket to Boston Backbay..." to Jerome "Hey boy, y'all jes be nice, thas my homegirl there!" - to me - "leaving 10:03am ..." - to Jerome - "she jus needs to pay the difference in the price!" - to me - "your ID please miss" and so on. Needless to say it took a long while (almost as long as standing the queue). And when he hurriedly finished up with me, Curtis leapt to his feet and scuttled off (I presume to catch up with his homegirl), leaving the queue behind me of about 30 people tutting and sighing. Oh well, I have my tickets well in advance as usual given I am only going in November. Curtis did seem a little surprised by my early purchase.
However, the weather kept my spirits up. So much so that I am willing to make a confession. About revolving doors. NY runs on revolving doors. At some point someone must have worked out they were most effective in keeping the frigid temperatures in the buildings, so they are everywhere. The problem is I hate pushing on the handles to get through, and will do anything to avoid it. Not so much a hygiene principle (although that is a factor), but more a point of pride with me. I am pretty good at it now. My longest streak of getting through the doors without touching them is 6 days so far. I have been known to loiter outside doors until someone arrives who looks a likely pusher. My techniques vary, but my favourite obviously is to tailgate a strong man through - the shove he gives in his partition is generally enough to get me through in the partition behind. But I realised how seriously I took it the other day when going through the doors between Rockefeller Centre and the subway. I picked my route, through the third set of revolving doors, right behind a procession of one man, one woman, and one man. The final man (the one in front of me) was a sturdy frame, so I figured his shove would be enough to carry me through. What I didn't realise is he was like me - a non-pusher. So I confidently strode into the moving section, and then, as if in slow motion, I saw he was holding his hands by his sides in a conscious way. A non-pusher. Taking advantage of the man and woman ahead of him... Unfortunately there was no-one behind me, so guess what - I had to push... I was very annoyed. Men should push - it is gentlemanly and courteous. Especially when I have presumed that they will!
But the other piece of excitement I had today is that I am a regular customer. Yes! I have been to the Manchu Wok chinese takeaway now so often that they not only recognise me (which has been the case in a subtle way for a couple of weeks - you know, the slight widening of the eyes, and broad smile), but today the little man on the steamdesk said my order to me before I ordered. I left there with a spring in my step - I have arrived!! Of course I am also too predictable in my eating habits - but anyway who knows me will tell you that! So, if you are looking for lovely service, I am now prepared to recommend the Manchu Wok in the North Concourse of the Rockefeller Center.
P.S SM was I think annoyed by my burrowing comments yesterday re the upper bunk on the Professor Molchanovsky, so unearthed this picture. I don't know where she got it, so permissions pending, but here is a previous occupant in full Arctic attire (???!!!).

feeling ooggee

I realise I have not been very consistent with recent posts. I am sure this is because of the rain. It has basically been raining in NY now for about 5 days, and is predicted to continue for another 5. There is a scene in the movie Misery where Kathy Bates as Annie get very depressed from the rain, and looks out the window giving a lovely speech about depression. I think I am the same. One of my good friends talks about her "black dog" days, and this is what this kind of rain can bring out in me. This is not the soft gentle rain that occurs the majority of the time in Ireland or England, this is belting, erratic, windy rain. The streets can't cope with it (they are a mass of potholes anyway), the drains overflow, and umbrellas are useless. There are also no awnings to huddle under, so - you get wet! Very dispiriting I find. The temperature is also much cooler, although at least it means the AC at work seems to have sorted itself out.

Aah - the A/C - bane of my life!! I keep a wrap at my desk at all times to ward off the cold, and was considering bringing in one of the pieces of my arctic apparel also to try to survive the freezing temperatures. Some days my fingers are too cold to type - not very efficient I wouldn't have thought! I was having a complain about it to our lovely receptionist, when the head of HR walked through and she JOINED IN THE WHINGE! Isn't she responsible for OH&S? Can't she do something? So the receptionist took pity on me, and we got the maintenance guy for the building up to check my area out. He came armed with a smug expression and his little temperature gun (all very hi-tech). However rather than checking the air in the vicinity around me (where I am under a frigid draft from the A/C vent above my head) he instead went around the corner out of the draft, and held the gun near the warm carpeting. What a surprise when the reading came out at a balmy 72 degrees. He still had to do some tweaking in the little box on the wall to try to get it up to the regulation 74 degrees (I love how I have to learn fahrenheit - that was not on the secondment description). So I watched how he tweaked in a very nonchalant way, and am about to get armed with a small hex screwdriver and a paperclip and do the operation myself every day!

So I am in a rain malaise at the moment as well as freezing cold. Just went out to get lunch and it was overcast and cool, with the rain just threatening constantly.

But on brighter news, I have booked a trip to Boston. I am staying at Gryphon house (thanks again to tripadvisor.com my favourite site in the world). The B&B has a website at www.innboston.com and my room of choice is the Riverview. The booking process so far has been lovely and painless. Now to book the train tickets. That is all happening once I get back from the arctic cruise however.

The cruise. After my easy success at Woodbury Common at the North Face outlet, (meeting Victor's sales targets for the month I would think with my purchases), all that really remains to be purchased is the knee high rubber (not PVC) boots. These are for wading in the freezing sea once we are thrown out of a zodiac on to an ice floe. One problem - no boots in sight. I tried Paragon sports where they do have Hunter boots, but just not in my size. To be clear, I have normal sized feet - I was thinking 40/41 boot size to allow for my super-super wigwam ultrafit socks with silver in them (I kid you not). I have tried department stores and other sports stores. I am getting a bit desperate now, and am even considering mid-calf height boots which are easier to find. After all, I am sorry but if the water level is higher than mid-calf then I am not getting out of the boat at all, I don't think that is safe. I am likely to trip and end up soaked in any case, and water that is over a foot deep is not a pretty thought. I would stay back and cosy up to the Russian crewmembers instead for a free blini and make use of my expensive telephoto lens.

SS (I can't call her RRPP anymore as she informs me that Love Island is over - with no small amount of relief from her as she can now get back to her usual sleeping time of 9pm) has just sent me a picture of the cabin on board the Molchanov that we will be occupying - sort of 70's sauna chic I think... although I had previously been pumping for the top bunk, it does look kind of as though I would be crawling into a burrow up there!

On other news, this weekend I am hosting a pyjama party - only kidding! Three of Sindy's dear friends (hereafter known as SDF) will be arriving on Friday night for a long weekend of shopping, eating and other things which girls get up to. Can't wait! Of course, they will also be arriving for a weekend of rain, but nothing I can do about that I am afraid ...

Another day...

... another bad advert on television. My current favourites are the one for Dulcolax - a lovely tablet that promises "stool softening", this is on prime time TV, and involves lots of people with screwed up faces, closeups of the package, and then smiling faces on the same people. Delightful. Another one is for a male enhancement tablet, which promises "bigger, better results" if used correctly. All very coy and sly winking going on. Ugh.
At least another episode of Project Runway is on tonight - time for Vincent to go I think - he is getting a little annoying now. I was quite upset last week, I really thought that she would do better, and maybe even win. Certainly Vincent's dress was way worse, but perhaps the production has more to do with the voting off that we like to think.
I am in the midst of planning a weekend in Boston, and also perhaps going to see the Anthony Minghella designed performance of Madame Butterfly at the Met Opera. I really need to plan some more side trips, so any suggestions welcomed. The Grand Canyon (staying in Las Vegas), is also something I am looking into at the moment. I am halfway through my time here, and so far have only been to Washington!!

soooo much has happened ...

... well, not really. SM spent a lovely ten days with me, and I took quite a bit of time off to entertain her. So no posting for a while, I am sure my global audience has missed me! We spent a weekend in Washington (hereafter known as CWNS - city with no seats, because it doesn't have anywhere to sit!). Highlights were a walking tour on Saturday night around the various memorials - I thought it would be an easy way to make sure we saw everything and had some information on it at the same time. Well, "walking" was a term used loosely. We were scooped up by the lovely Sarah at Smithsonian station, jogged around down the mall, around the lake, up the steps, around the tidal basin, and were finally left, legs shaking and blisters throbbing, in a small heap outside the Jefferson Memorial in the dark. In between we got to see the Washington memorial (hard to miss), WWII memorial, Constitution island, Vietnam memorial, Lincoln memorial, Korean memorial, WWI memorial, the future site of the MLK memorial, FDR memorial, and Jefferson memorial. Phew! Pictures of some of these are below.
We enjoyed that experience so well that the next morning, fortified by our breakfast of brioche french toast with pears and turkey bacon, we headed off on another walking tour, this time around Georgetown. This one was more leisurely, which was a good thing as SM had to keep stopping to reapply the bandaids to her feet where her flipflops were rubbing! Then we took a leisurely mule-drawn canal boat ride through Georgetown, and after seeing some more museums had dinner at a great place called Sala Thai up at 13th and U Street. Given I had three strong cocktails and Mum had four, we literally floated back to Akwaaba Inn through some slightly dodgy backstreets.
Museums were great there, and the train trip there and back was SOOO easy. So all good. Apart from that, just moseying around in New York. Took another trip out to Woodbury Common and loaded up on cold weather gear for the trip to the Arctic. I am so colourful and plump that I look like all the teletubbies rolled into one... but things are so cheap here compared to the UK for this kind of gear. Just the boots to go - knee high rubber boots - oooer matron!

Tour guide

Well, SM arrives tonight (Sindy's Mother), for a 10 day stay. I am really looking forward to it - I am ready to be a tour guide within reason, and show off some of my favourite spots around the place. We have all sorts of nice things lined up, including a visit to Yankee Stadium for a ball game, as well as the trip to the Nation's Capital this weekend. Yay!
Last night I finished the Man in my Basement (the Walter Mosley book). So I now have two books read by the Akwaaba authors. I have another book of Zora Hurston short stories, and I also want to get a book of poems by Langston Hughes, then I will feel prepared. It is strange though, because what I thought would be almost like study and quite unrewarding, has actually introduced me to some really inspirational writing and great stories. Always nice to find new authors isn't it?
So I will be out and about for the next week or so enjoying the sights and sounds of NY and DC, and probably doing some heavy duty shopping. Not sure how I will fit this all in with watching the new episode of Project Runway tonight though!!

Weird adverts etc

There are some very strange advertisements on American television. I remember when we moved from South Africa to Australia, we were all shocked at the notion of comparative advertising, but in the US I am amazed always by the amount of prescription drug advertising. There are some classics at the moment - a group of women lunching (all glossy and gorgeous), when one pipes up about the new contraceptive pill she is taking. She then continues eating her salad whilst saying things like "but those with a high risk of liver disease or a family history of strokes should consult their doctor first!" Her friends of course are all blown away by this, and so excited to try this new product. Then one says "Wow, you really know your stuff" and she smirks and replies "Well, I didn't go to medical school for nothing". Gee, just who you want to be having lunch with I say - such interesting conversation.
But my current favourite is for the new Frommers Guide which provides those unfortunate people with Overactive Bladders their own travel guide on where to find the nearest restroom in major holiday cities in the US. The advert is quite long, and involves a group of people of a certain age (ie glossy skin and toned bodies but coiffed greying hair) on various holidays. Pick the one with OAB - could it be the woman who, whilst hiking with her gang of OAPs, ducks behind the nearest tree? Spot her again when out to lunch in a capital city somewhere, looking pensive then making furtive hurried enquiries of the waiter. There are a number of scenarios all involving this poor woman ducking away from her friends, then coming back with a big smile. Now if only she had the handy guide, she could stop looking so pensive. Aaaah, she does have the guide - now they show her ducking off just as often, but with an air of assurance. For more information (and to prove I'm not joking) please check out the following website ... www.WheretoStopWheretoGo.com
I don't think it is such a bad idea for the rest of us though - given that Arthur Frommer has personally done the research (hands up who thinks Mr Frommer might be suffering from OAB?) I would be surprised if he doesn't give star ratings also. And it is always nice to know where the nearest convenience is even for those of us without OAB...
So what other adverts on TV are cool? Well, there is a whole series of adverts for California cheese. Whilst I refuse to eat the stuff (I am guessing it is that nasty orange variety), the adverts are quite funny. They involve a series of adverts about the Happy Cows, each with our heroine up to various tricks (our heroine is a sassy cow and her friends (not cartoon ones)). In one, she and her friend play "knock and run" on the farmer. In another she joins in a game of football with some bulls, and so on. But they are very funny. You can see these online too ...
http://www.realcaliforniacheese.com/happyCows/default.cfm?sub=happyCows&page=2&start=1
Oh, and last night on TV they replayed Broken Trail - I didn't watch it again, but what a fantastically put together mini series. I bought the book afterwards and that was a pretty good read too - highly recommended.
I also have just finished reading "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston. Fantastic book. I mainly read it because I will be staying at the Akwaaba Inn in Washington DC, and the rooms are named after famous writers, including Zora Hurston. But I raced through it - very well written I thought, and I didn't really want it to end. So now at the breakfast table I will have something to talk about. I am now halfway through "The Man in my Basement" by Walter Mosley (who also has a room named after him). I am going to be able to hold my own anyway if a literary discussion starts up!!

Central Park on the weekend

It is too hot to type (equalling the record temperature for today of 39 degrees, but with "humidity adjustment" it is 45 degrees today, yes that is celcius!). Strange, I am used to "wind adjusted" temperatures eg when skiing, or in London winters, but I have never had humidity adjusted before. Every day is an adventure. So in lieu of a longer post, I am instead going to attach some photos I took in Central Park on the weekend for your viewing pleasure ... The day was so bright that the blue sky has disappeared a bit, and I am still getting used to my new camera, so the quality is not what is should have been ... As you can tell, the day was hot, but I spent a lot of time wandering in the shade!