the boots - vote now...

and before I forget - here is SS modelling the two different boots. Right foot is the Muckboot (ie the bugly one), and the left boot is the Hunter Galloway neoprene lined boot (read stylish and desirable). So vote now for your favourite. I will try to put up posts of the boots in situ (which hopefully will not involve either myself or SS disappearing into the gap between the zodiac and the icefloe, headfirst, and having to be fished out of the perishing Arctic sea by a burly Russian before a sealion bites us ... )
And yes, before anyone asks, those are her work trousers she has rolled up above the boots!

And I'm off ...

Arctic here I come - well almost. Stage One is flight to UK tomorrow, then boring admin for a few days before flying to Iceland to join my Russian friends aboard the vessel! In the meantime I am trying to get out of work before midnight tonight, as I still have to pack. I HATE leaving things to the last minute.
I watched the BBC World News this morning, and was as always pleasantly surprised by the coverage. On NY1, ABZ, Fox, CNN etc I am used to 29 mins of the half hour being devoted to either:
1. Steve Irwin (now rechristened Saint Steve) and his unfortunate death, emphasising what an environmentalist and activist he was (here was me thinking he was someone who incited children to play with crocodiles and said CRIKEY a lot). In Australia, until his untimely death, he was treated as a bit of a joke to be honest. He was very ocker http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-ock1.htm and therefore not particularly bright. This is the guy who two years ago was universally vilified for the "baby dangling" incident. His idea of fun was to screech to a halt in his Range Rover in the outback, run into the road to catch a brown snake by its tail. Hmmm. Would you let this man babysit for your child? But since he unfortunately was impaled by a stingray barb, he has been canonised. Please, do not take this as Steve-bashing. I am sure he was a lovely man, seemed genuinely caring and concerned about people and the environment, but he was not a saint and most of the time went about things in rather a bungled manner. Phew. We also had a Crocodile Hunter marathon on the Discovery Channel all weekend - fun fun fun.
2. 9/11 - the other big issue at the moment understandably. Again, please don't think I am underestimating the value, importance and sheer horror of what happened 5 years ago, with its continuing impact on everyone's life. However, I do not believe that CNN replaying its coverage of the events of September 11, 2001 in REAL TIME helps anyone. I think it is tacky. Equally, all of the NY news channels simultaneously played live the entire coverage from the WTC of the reading of the names of those who were killed, focussing intently on George W Bush shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot and looking to the sky like a little boy in need of a bathroom. It was an event that needed to be marked and should continue to be marked, but I guess that I am missing the rationale behind 6 NEWS channels showing exactly the same event at the same time. It was almost as though they thought if they didn't, they would receive complaints. Why are all these documentaries not replayed all through the year, why have a 24 hour coverage focussed around that day just in the few days leading up to it? We don't just show WWII coverage around Remembrance Day? Equally, there are a lot of things happening in Afghanistan and Iraq at the moment (so BBC World tells me). These are all linked to the events of September 11th (the extent of the link I leave to everyone's own viewpoint), why not put on some of those stories as well, and inform people?
I will get off my soapbox now as it is not very amusing. I will say that the light display from the WTC site was beautiful and very moving - an appropriate memorial, and some of the documentaries were very well produced.
Hope everyone is looking forward to tales of Iceland, even though that is not really to do with NY! But it is my blog, and I will do what I like with it!

Erbal essences

My least favourite word for pronunciation by Americans - "herbal". Why do Americans go all French about this word and say " 'erbal"? It came home to me when watching an advert for the new Herbal Essences variant called - wait for it - "Hello Hydration". All these perky people prancing around saying "HELLLO Hydreeeeetion - new by Errrrbal Essahn-says". Yee haa ... (apparently when Americans hear the rest of the world saying herb with a hard "h" they think it sounds ignorant, so there you go...)

Having said that, Americans are very good about pronouncing foreign words (particularly Spanish ones of course, tortilla, fajita etc), but equally they will pronounce croissants in the French way, and a fillet of beef will be a "fillay". You would not get what you asked for in McDonalds without pronouncing it fillay-of-fish! Most Australians would never do this in case they sounded pretentious. I have not heard an American say the word buffet though. Generally most English people will pronounce it the French boo-fay way, whereas Aussies go for the buff-ay. Not sure about Americans - I will watch out for that one...

However I did a bit of research, which indicates that I may be the odd one out, see http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-her1.htm where it states that the English stole the word herb from the French, and changed the pronounciation. However, this does not explain the American link - I am guessing the Puritans did not bring over "erb" with them, so was it from the French conquerors that the pronounciation stuck? I did also hear an interesting story recently about the derivation of the name of the English horn, which according to the book was due to a mispronounciation of "horn angle" in French (meaning horn with an angle as opposed to English horn). Aah, the English language, what a wonderful thing it is...

I'm all alooooonnneee...

Yes, my lovely SFs have departed again meaning that like Donkey, I'm all aloooonnnne. Of course, I didn't have to put up with American Airlines who sounded like a real treat - the SFs were an hour late arriving, then left 2.5 hours sitting waiting for bags in JFK at Friday midnight with no information given, two hours late on way back with no food on planes, plus changing slots and boarding cards etc. Not a lot of fun. Unlike the weekend of course! It was like one big pyjama party really. Loads of shopping, eating and avoiding the rain. Plus enough alcohol on Saturday night to sink a couple of Titanics! All I can say is that Nooch (cnr W17th and 8th) has a lot to answer for. We went there intending to have a couple of cocktails, some nice food, and then head down to Bar55 to see Sweet Georgia Brown. Instead we had many cocktails, rolled out of Nooch after midnight into the rain (from a 7:30pm booking), and somehow got home. I think we were one of those tables where we were having a great noisy time, but successfuly cleared the restaurants of other patrons! Whilst 2 of the 3 SFs made it up the next day for the nauseating ride to Woodbury Common, one alas fell by the wayside at the first corner on the way to the Port Authority, could make it no further, and had to be retired back to the apartment for a reviving nap and a solo day of exploration. We did all meet up again to show off respective purchases and for a much more restrained dinner at Il Bastardo on 7th, and then a final day on Monday of shopping, enjoying the sun, and eating (again).
But now I am back to work again. Yesterday I started at 7am and got home after 11pm. Humph. Perhaps I should rename the blog Sindy WORKS in New York. Today I started at 7am again, and am still here at 7:15pm so far. But tonight is Project Runway (without Angela - YAY), so I am definitely heading home soon. Last week was fabulous - watching Angela fly all the way to Paris only to be knocked out and sent straight home. quel horreur!
But this work is all preparation for relaxing in the arctic I guess - not long to go now. SS kindly sent me another cabin photo but I have lost it, so you all miss out! There was however a North Face sale on at Woodbury Common, so more purchases were made. SS has also order our waterproof boots online. I have gone for the oh so stylish knee high Hunter Galloways in Olive Green (subtitled Sindy has Large Calves), but SS has gone for the muckboots. I have described them as fugly and got my hand slapped, but they are not keepers! See attached linked, and vote accordingly!
http://www.wellie-web.co.uk/wa/1/40/1102-Muck-Boots-Esk.html
http://www.wellie-web.co.uk/wa/1/40/1123-Hunter-Wellington-Boots-Neo-Galloway-Wide-Fitting.html
I did want to get the floral sunflower ones but they are not neoprene lined. Anyway, my skipants are pistachio coloured, so I figure I will look like the green machine (or Kermit)! Must finish some work now and get home for PR!