Boston...

Don't recall if I ever wrote about my weekend to Boston - headed up there mid-November. Weekend was not that rivetting, but I stayed in a nice B&B, and pottered around happily... Here are some pictures in any case:

my room in the B&B:



the old cemetery:


autumn colour on Boston Common:



me entertaining myself in a cemetery:



random old bloke sitting outside a shop minding his own business until I decided to take a picture of him:

The Last Post...

... well, didn't quite make it the next day, and I am also of course typing this whilst back in London. Millions of excuses, none of them interesting.
Leaving NY was all very flurried and I still think I must have left things in the apartment that I will only realise are missing two years from now. My last night in NY (Wednesday night 29th November) turned into a blur. I had to leave work early to do one last run through Sephora to load up on Dr Brandt stuff and Philosophy for my various friend's orders, and then get home to finish packing. One suitcase I had not even unpacked from when I came back from Australia, but then looking at my one remaining empty suitcase, and the pile of things that needed to go into it, I realised that the suitcase would need to assume Tardis proportions to do what it needed to do. So first idea was to start throwing things away. But when I had a pile of hardly worn shoes, and other rather necessary things, when I was conscious that in the already packed suitcases I had mismatched socks and trousers that no longer fit, I decided I had to buy another bigger suitcase.
This is where convenience in NY comes into its own. The time was 5:45pm. I was due to meet my good drinking buddies at about 6pm, and I needed a suitcase. So I bolted out the door and down the road 8 blocks to Filenes Basement. Bought the suitcase, wheeled it back up to the apartment, opened it ready to be packed (at some point between the 6:05pm that it now was, and the 5:15am when the car would pick me up to go to the airport). Then I turned straight around and hobbled down the road to meet up with the lovely friends. I decided since it was my last night that we should celebrate. Between the three of us we had 3 bottles of Veuve Clicquot, and then rolled over to Il Bastardo on 7th avenue for some food. Very nice dinner and a bottle of red later we were ready for a cocktail for the road... So to make a long messy story shorter, I got back to the apartment at about 1am and then packed the suitcase. it seemed like everything fitted in...
Now, I have no weighing scales at home, and was now the proud possessor of 4 suitcases of varying sizes. This was all fine into the car downstairs, and then got a (squeaky of course) trolley at the airport to get to checkin. Although I was flying premium economy, I get to checkin at the first class desks because of FF status. Now, the baggage limits for BA transatlantic flights are 2 bags, each weighing up to 32 kilos. I had 4 heavy bags. I was so nervous that the largest one would be over 32 kilos, as how could I repack it into the other bags, which were smaller but equally heavy? Luckily enough the suitcases were, respectively, 27kg, 24kg, 23kg and 21kg... Not bad!! The excess baggage charge was USD100 per bag, which i thought was quite reasonable actually - imagine what it would cost to airmail a 27kg suitcase from NY to London - more that USD100 I can assure you!
So the next worry was customs at London. For some reason by baggage actually came through fairly promptly, and for the first time EVER in London, I had to get a baggage trolley. Loading the bags I should say is quite a feat. I laid the largest one across the trolley, with the two medium suitcases next to each other on the next level, and the smaller suitcase on top, holding down the middle two. My cabin bag was then hung from the back of the trolley. And of course the trolley squeaked ... I could barely see over the top of the uppermost suitcase. I saw 4 customs guys in the Nothing to Declare channel as I walked through, and none of them even batted an eyelid at me! Amazing really. Not that I am complaining.
So it seems as though NY was all a dream now. Driving to the airport in the early morning was quite nostalgic, and at least when I visit now I know where to go, and have my favourite haunts, but I am happy to be back in London. For those of you interested in my rantings and ravings on being back in London, and the potential trials of dealing with a builder, please go to http://sindyinlondon.blogspot.com
Nice knowing y'all!

Jetlag ....

Where has the six months gone? Got back to NY from my Australia trip on Saturday, and was immediately faced by my smugness. Jetlag. My rather superior words to friends about "oh-ho, jetlag, yes, I don't really suffer from that, you know, I might wake up at 3am, but I just go straight back to sleep!" And unfortunately I had made a number of such comments to a wide audience only a month ago after my HK trip (which involved flying on Friday morning NY-HK and back three days later. With a 23 hour flight time (including connections) and a 12 hour time difference, that is a trip with jetlag written all over it). So I made a number of smug pronounciations like - "not really sure what this jetlag thing is all about" and "well, I never have a problem sleeping". Hmmm, that has all just been disproved.
I arrived into JFK on Saturday night after the 24 hour flight from Melbourne, my lovely driver met me and took me to the apartment. I headed out to Wholefoods for milk etc, stayed up until about 11pm local time, and went to bed confident and smug... and lay confidently and smugly staring at the ceiling until 5am unable to sleep. I did drop off at about 6:30am (which conincidentally is 10:30pm in Melbourne) but then my alarm went off at 7:30am for the last trip to Woodbury Common. I lay there feeling rotten for about 10 minutes, but couldn't miss my last chance to head out on the Shortline bus, so dragged myself to the shower and up to the Port Authority. It was worth it - I staggered back with bags a short time later - power shopping.
Back in Manhattan I went and spent more money at Old Navy - everything is on sale for Thanksgiving weekend, and at two singlet tops for USD10, how can you not? Particularly when the BBC news today was explaining to me how weak the dollar is... But how I am to ship all of this stuff back to London this week? I need a personal sherpa I think - or mules I believe they call them when they fly? (only kidding! It is only clothes, shoes and cosmetics that are my vices!)
So after a day of power shopping, I was sleepy at 9pm, and thought yippee, back to normal, last night was just an aberration. Oh no it wasn't, as I discovered at 3:47am when I woke up, and then stared at the ceiling until 6:30am smugly and confidently wondering WHY I had jetlag...
So I headed down to gym and punished myself for a while before heading to work. And last night - I slept! Don't know if it was the gym, don't know if it was a 48 hour jetlag that had run its course, maybe it wasn't jetlag at all, perhaps I had a virus (ha ha), but glad it is over. Of course I still have it all to do again later this week.
So what exciting things do I have to report on this week? Well, I have been noticing more of the advertisements in the subway trains. They really are the lowest of the low - advertising costs must be REALLY cheap. They vary from offers of training and schooling (all of which specify they habla espanol), to lots of book reviews (my current favourite is for some reverend who has nine steps to resolving problems - these involve finding a relevant passage in the bible, believing it, embracing it, and having faith that God WILL Answer ....), to drop in centres for bunion removal. Lovely. At least I only have a few stops to go!
Otherwise, well, what else? The television advertisements are not getting any better, although I do like the Lexmark one, where all the printers head off to work with the office workers, riding on escalators and catching lifts etc. Very cute. Otherwise it is all just adverts for food, food, and more food... plus the usual drug ones - incontinence is a BIG issue in America is all I can say...
It has been a lovely time to be away though - although I missed the Thanksgiving festivities, I have come back for Christmas preparations - there are huge aprkly Christmas trees everywhere, and lights strung on the normal trees. Around the corner from me on Sixth Avenue there is a stand selling real Christmas trees which are all lovely and plump and green (would they last until Christmas though??). There is a beautiful Christmas scene in the office building foyer, which replaces the pumpkins and wagons that were there for Halloween (not sure if I missed the Turkey tableau or not!). So I feel very festive, and this is always my favourite month of the year in any case.
Anyway, enough rambling, I will put up the final post tomorrow (sniff), before heading home to pack up. I am leaving my packing until the last minute to see if the ruthlessness will kick in - I have accumulated so much stuff in 6 months that I really do need my own sherpa!

Robbie Williams let me down ...

... yep, there were a few songs of Robbie's that I actually quite like - mainly stuff post 2001, and pre-2005, and not on a whole album basis, but enough to just buy his most recent Rudebox album without checking on the samples first. What a waste of money - if anyone would like a very slightly used CD, please apply here. It is rubbish - Robbie the rapper, and he is not very good at it. The lyrics are self serving and maudlin, and I would guess that KFed raps better than Robbie. It is utter tripe and I hope it does very badly for Robbie for presuming he can inflict such trash on people. Phew, that is enough of that. Luckily enough I did get some other CDs which were very satisfying, and will be entering the permanent collection, to make up for the disappointment. Robbie really was so bad I was almost nauseous.
Now I have a few other dilemmas to deal with. I have acquired quite a few books whilst here which I am not taking back to the UK, and now have to try to find some sort of donation place for those (as well as one Robbie CD) and also a lot of clothes that will not be making the trip back. Easier said than done in Manhattan I think, but any suggestions gratefully received - I refuse to throw things away particularly coming into winter when they could be either recycled or used for less fortunate people. So that is my new mission for today.
Nothing particularly hilarious on the TVs this morning, although every channel had non-stop election coverage. Thankfully that will all be over tonight (although of course everyone is hoping for a LATE night, just to keep the "excitement" going). I could do without the excitement really.
Bring on Boston on Friday I say - I am looking forward to watching the Charles River go by ...

my weekend ...

... lovely chilly but clear sunny days. Saturday I did indeed hit Woodbury Common. Not my most impressive number of bags to date, but I did treat myself to the super-duper new Bose noise reduction headphones at exorbitant cost. I deserve them (I think!). The usual suspects were on the bus with me on the way in and out - disgruntled UK tourists, Japanese visitors looking hopefully for someone with a yellow hat or big flag to direct them around, plus some Eastern Europeans just to spice things up a bit. I was back in town by about 3pm. Then spent some time on the phone catching up with friends, before heading out to meet up with other friends for dinner. We had some drinks first at the Flatiron Lounge on w19th, waiting for our table to be ready at Boqueria a couple of doors down. Boqueria is a fairly new tapas restaurant. It was OK, but not fantastic. The paella was very salty, and most of the tapas very small servings for the price. But the patatas bravas was some of the best I have ever had. Dessert was a let down - there are 6 options, 4 of which revolve around different combinations of either custard or icecream (ie stuff that freezes or keeps in the fridge). The only two menu options which would be freshly prepared (ie the doughnuts with chocolate sauce or the cakey style one), they were out of - at 11pm on a Saturday! Very unimpressive I thought. But a few glasses/bottles of Spanish red made it all worthwhile. Back out for a few drinks afterwards and then I happily wandered home in the wee hours.
Sunday I watched some of the marathon, and was treated to some classics of American commentary. At one point one of the commentators was going through the women's names in the elite pack of runners, and came up with the following gem: "Hlladya, Petrucopska, Delos Santos... where are the Smiths and Jones's??". There was an awkward silence before his fellow commentator piped up: "um, its an international race and those are international names". Cringeworthy really. There was lots of focus on Deena someone (the US woman in the elite bunch) for about the first half of the race. When she dropped off the back of the pack and ended up finishing 6th, there was not a lot of coverage until the end when they cornered her and instead of congratulating her and saying well run, the questions were more along the lines of "so where did it all go wrong today?". Funny stuff. Then there was Lance-cam. Not only did Lance Armstrong have to run the whole race with a TV camera next to him recording every grunt and drop of sweat, but they also constantly compared his rate per mile to that of the male winner! He had said he wanted to finish within an hour of the winning runner, so at least he achieved that if nothing else. Otherwise you could imagine the questions at the end "So Lance, where did it all go wrong?". No mention of course of the achievement of finishing his first ever marathon with a camera shoved in his face.
So I spent more time in the gym watching the marathon on the TVs, which was amusing in that for the first time all four treadmills were full all morning, with people running, watching other people on TV running. I couldn't work out if they just had not got a start for the marathon, or whether it is like when Wimbledon is on in the UK, and suddenly you cannot hire a tennis court for love or money with all the people suddenly playing! Then I went and spent more money at Virgin music - their net value will have to increase with the amount I spend there. Quiet evening after that getting ready for work again today, and starting to get my apartment sorted out ready to move shortly!

Today in NY...

... it is COLD. After walking the 4 short blocks to the subway this morning at 8:30am, I had the equivalent of an icecream headache. And it hurt. And I forgot my gloves. Still, at least it isn't raining - there is always an upside.

Was entertained at the gym this morning whilst pedalling away by the emerging fisticuffs between Bush and Kerry following Kerry's ill-advised throw away lines about intelligence not being a pre-requisite to be sent to Iraq. I am in no way defending Kerry's words, but if Bush in a pre-written and approved statement could only word his indignation in the following way: "insulting and it is shameful. The members of the United States military are PLENTY SMART and they are PLENTY BRAVE" then I query once again the intelligence of Bush. I am guessing he is not "plenty smart" to use such incorrect grammar (although of course I can only guess it was so worded to appeal to the not-so intelligent members of his supporters). Can't wait for these mid-terms to be over so that the media coverage can find something else to focus on. And they can stop these annoying advertisements on television which constantly go on and on about how one candidate is clearly better than the other. Yerks.

So this weekend I am hitting Woodbury Common again tomorrow for the last time, out to dinner Saturday night, and then Sunday I am watching a friend run in the marathon (hope I can pick her out of the crowd!). In between I need to start packing as I am in Boston next weekend... sniff.

Halloween

Yep, the US night of nights was last night. I wandered around a bit to see the parade with a couple of friends, then sat in a bar and had some drinks (well, they drank, I had soda water and lime - alcohol is not top of my hit list at the moment). Surreal sitting at a bar surrounded by people wearing the oddest costumes. There were some very original ones, and very unoriginal ones around as you would expect. Also got some amusement by two large fat middle aged guys trying to pick up the two 20-something year old girls sitting next to us, who were dressed like something out of Cats. Needless to say the men struck out after one drink.
My favourite picture of the night is attached for your viewing amusement - where is this devil going to put the cash once he withdraws it???

Commemorative garbage ...

Amazing how people will try to make money. This morning I again saw the advert on TV for the commemorative medal/statue of the Twin Towers. It is a pretty tacky looking medal, 100% "gold-plated" (whatever that means), with a silver inset of the Twin Towers which "flips up to form a stylish relief sculpture". uh-huh... The silver is "priceless, sourced from the vaults deep under ground zero. It is a finite amount of silver, so when resources run out, this unique run WILL END!" The confidential voice of the man then continues to say that this offer is "only available to collectors, with a limit of 5 per order"(!!) but for a limited time only the price is "reduced from USD49.95 to USD29.95". Could that honestly be more insulting to those affected by the events of 9/11? Firstly they try to make out it is unique and priceless, and then offer a discount on the price, and secondly, limit sales only to COLLECTORS, but each order can have 5?? Amazing really! It really makes me want to chuck something at the screen!
Tonight I am going to try to see some of the Halloween parade on 6th Avenue - apparently it is one of the 100 things to do before you die. Not so sure on that one, but I will confirm tomorrow one way or the other... meeting some friends for drinks first, so hopefully I will still make it. I am off the alcohol at the moment after last Tuesday night in any case, so I should be bright eyed and camera wielding by the time I get there. Although having said that I am quite tired today - it must be the change in time zones with daylight saving ending, and then also getting up early for the gym each morning. One of life's mysteries I guess...

Windy weekend in NY

Well, I just had a very busy weekend. Opera on Friday night (Madama Butterfly, which was just beautifully staged, although the singing was not fantastic, inasmuch as I am any expert). Saturday involved getting up after the heavy rain stopped, getting the paper, then heading out for a matinee. I actually ordered my first home delivery meal as well, one of the best Pad Thai's I have ever had. Sunday got up early, went to the gym and did some washing, and then met my friend Les and his friend Mike at Madison Square Park. Sunday was FREEZING cold, and really really windy - the kind of wind that blows you sideways.

We headed off to brunch at Cafeteria, got a table reasonably quickly, and then who should join us but Susan Sarandon and her two sons. Nice of them (she is the one wearing the hat in the photo - couldn't use flash as that might be a bit...rude?).








Brunch was lovely - this time I had the crabcake and poached eggs, whilst Les noshed on the Green Eggs and Ham, and Mike went suitably masculine with the eggs benedict with swiss chard...

So then the three of us headed up to Central Park to find Strawberry Fields (for Mike, who turns out to be a closet Beatles fan, and kept thinking every small Asian woman we saw was Yoko Ono). Had a good wander around, taking shelter behind large rocks out of the wind.
















As you can see from my picture, my hair suffered rather in the constant bombardment, but the colours of the trees were just beautiful. We watched the ice skaters for a little while (thenks to Trump for sponsoring the rink of course!), and then Mike lost his spare AA batteries over the edge of the large rocks we were sitting on and decided to be an intrepid rock climber to recover them. He did get one back, but after smacking his head on a tree limb decided discretion was the better part of being a cheapskate, and maybe he could just buy another couple of batteries.
Was a lovely day. After taking pictures of Cleopatra's Needle, and Les taking a quick rest on Hans Christian Anderson's lap, we headed out again and finally found a bar after walking 20 blocks in the driving wind, keeping our mouths closed to avoid inhaling the dust, leaves and rubbish that was flying around. After a few beers (Les), a Corona with an umbrella in it (Mike) and a half of Guinness (me), I headed off for my evening commitments, all set for another early start this morning.

And, picking up on the rubbish news reporting again, this morning in the gym I had the treat of watching NBC (channel already set by someone on the treadmill behind me), and they had a reporter from Baghadad (not Baghdad as normal). How very reassuring on quality control and checking! We also had the Governator of California talking about the arsonist over there (something along the lines of "we must catch the scumbag"). The rest of the news here is solely about George W Bush and the mid-term elections in just over a week. Given W is not even up for election, it is really all about how he is being used by the opposition to try to discredit Republican candidates... So there has been lots of footage of him talking about the "Internets" and how he uses "the Google". Always ample fodder for next year's book of "Bushisms".

News reporting in the US ...

... still haven't found a decent news channel outside of BBC World (which at least has SOME international content). An example of the news reports that were on the various TVs at the gym this morning (don't you love how I included that little reference showing I was at the gym?):
* there is a fire in California started by arsonists - the report said: "Three firefighters killed in arson fire, one critical". Okaaay - so the other two are just dead but not critical?
* talking about the situation in Iraq, the news headline read: "will our soliders [sic] be brought home?". That is not my typo - that was the spelling that was repeated for at least the whole hour I was watching the program
* lots of reporting on the press conference with Donald Rumsfeld where he started having arguments with the journalists about the tone they were using, and fingerpointing. I thought they might start having hissy-slaps the way it was going. Such impressive reporting
I still very much enjoy the Geico (car insurance) adverts though. They spend a fortune on advertising as it seems that they only do phone quotes. The adverts usually involve a real Geico customer telling a story about the accident they had, interspersed with a paid celebrity's comments. The paid celebrity sits next to them and jazzes up their rather boring stories. Kind of B-list celebrities, but recognisable eg Little Richard, Chica, couple of older actors, the guy who does the voiceovers for movie trailers. They are very funny though, and nice idea.
The weather now in NY is COOOLDD. About 15 degrees C (mid-50s fahrenheit), and yesterday it was also very windy. Tonight it is about to start raining very hard in time for a wet and windy and cold weekend - YAY. I don't have enough clothes for this sort of weather, and can't start buying too much more at this point, as I will need to cart it all back to the UK in just under 5 weeks time. Yes, I can now count my return date in weeks. And of course for 2 of those 5 weeks I will not even be in the US ... Not that the weather in London is any better I understand, but it is more the logisitics of moving large coats, woolly gloves and furry hats.
I should say also, that I wrote up two posts in between the last one you will see published, but Blogger decided to crash on both occasions, and as fellow bloggers will know, it is no fun trying to repost the vitriol for a second time. So you missed out on my pronouncements on autumnal "fashion" in NY, and also the amusing story on the subway. However, I will be trying again to post my photo montage of a day in the life in NY. Unfortunately I did get so drunk the day/night I took the pictures, that none really survived after the one of me and the martini ...

Tartare is NOT the same as carpaccio...

... today I am going to be a princess. Went to dinner last night at Tre Dici on W26th street. Lovely place, and food is always good. But last night I order as a starter the Beef Carpaccio, which was described in the usual way - carpaccio with baby arugula and a mustard vinaigrette. What arrived was a square of beef tartare. I have a big issue with textures of food - I don't like slimy, sloppy, mushy or gelatinous. Basically all the things that make tartare tartare. It was even put in front of me and announced as tartare. I said "Oh, is that the carpaccio?" and was told "yes". Well, the flavour was lovely, but the texture - ugh! I could not finish it.
Luckily the main made up for it - a beautiful dish of triangular pasta with lobster, zucchini (courgette), peppers and other bits and pieces in a tomato cream sauce. It was absolutely stunning. Dessert (why not) was the 20 stack crepe with caramelised banana. Banana was perfect, warm and crispy topping. The stack of crepes was literally a slice of a stack of crepes, all sandwiched together with a light creamy spread. It was to be honest a little bland - the creamy sandwiching could have done with a flavour through it eg vanilla or lemon. My dinner companion had the strip steak ravioli in herbed butter and then the "fire and ice" which was vanilla gelato with warm berries on top, served in a martini glass all topped off with a warm strudel "lid". He said it was very interesting, but very nice. It looked good, although a bit of a challenge to eat elegantly I would think. And all washed down with some lovely wine.
So Tre Dici can stay on the list of places to visit - it is not cheap, but the food really is of a very high quality. We were going to go to Sapa on W24th, but it was booked for a private party - maybe next week.
So this weekend I am thinking of annoying the boys at Westpoint with a visit. I am at the stage where I need to fit everything in before leaving, so my to-do lists are coming out. Jazz bar on Saturday night (maybe Jim Hall trio at the Vanguard), more time at the gym, and Westpoint and the combined tour with Woodbury Common on Sunday ... or that is the plan at the moment anyway.

Americans as travellers

Well, I do have to say that Americans make very interesting travellers on planes. My most recent observations that come to mind are:
* loads of hand baggage - as US airlines seem to lose baggage more than any other jurisidiction (apart from Ryanair which is a law unto itself), and also take AGES to bring the baggage through to be picked up, everybody takes the maximum hand luggage on with them
* boarding order - for some reason US airlines assign an order of boarding as follows:
1 - frequent flyers and first class and business
2 - second most frequent flyers
3 - people seated in economy in window and centre seats
4 - people seated on the aisles
Such a stupid concept - I prefer to travel on the aisle usually, so this means I am always getting on last to a heaving plane, with all baggage areas stuffed to the gills. I may have to consider window seats, as I have no standing with US airlines at all
* very demanding on "beverages" - I have actually embraced this concept. First noticed this when sitting next to an American woman on a transatlantic flight. When asked what she wanted to drink, she asked for a "full can of pepsi and also a glass of water". I loved this - she just got what she asked for. So from now on (particularly long haul flights), I always ask for two drinks - usually a tomato juice (spicy if possible), but also a water. Works a treat, and helps with the constant dehydration and wondering when you are next going to get watered.
* strange demands - on one of my recent flights there was the usual problem with storage space with the gigantic amounts of carry on luggage. One guy had put his rather nasty puffy jacket in the overhead bins. So the flight attendant asked "whose jacket is this?" he replied it was his. She handed it to him, and said "we are out of space so I just need to re-arrange this bin to fit another bag in". he replied testily "Oh, so my jacket can't go up there now?" she said "Sir, I will try to fit it up here once the bags are in, but otherwise you will need to hold it on your lap". He replies "oh, because my jacket is really heavy so I don't want to hold it" ?????!!! By this time, she has managed to shove the last bag up, so takes the jacket and wrestles it into the space as well. He says "thank you so much" and she says "your welcome, my pleasure" all very politely. Meanwhile at least everyone sitting nearby was craning to see what sort of twit would make demands like that ....
* carry on baggage and toiletries - I notice that you can now carry some toiletries and liquids on to planes, but only if they are in less than 3oz containers (90ml for the non-imperially challenged of us), and separately kept in a plastic zip lock bag. Riiiiiight. That makes me feel safer in the skies.
So apart from travel observations, what is happening in NY? Well, lots of rain recently. Temperature is still holding up well on average - should hit 74 today (23C), and clear up hopefully. Work is rather busy as usual, and I have a lot of travel ahead of me. I have an official end-date for the NY secondment, being 30 November, so at that point the blog will end by definition. This week when there is a clear day I intend to do a "day in the life" photo montage trekking my day - I am sure that will put you all into a stupor, but may help to show my exciting life in more detail. Will have to see what happens - not sure I can deliver any more celebrity sightings unfortunately. I may also do a "re-integrating into London/how not to renovate a Georgian flat" blog, but we shall see if there is sufficient interest/content for that one!

Noo Yawk

So after over 4 months in NY, what am I now good at? Well, I can catch subways like a local, and sometimes even do it late at night; I am becoming all about convenience, and get very annoyed when my glass of icewater does not arrive within 3 minutes of my sitting to eat; I now expect severe delays at airports when the skies are just heavily clouded, let alone raining (I have to say nowhere else I have ever lived is so bad for delays, cancellations and baggage losses as the US); I can do a proper fake American accent now; I can automatically convert time zones from Eastern time without first going through GMT; my apartment feels like home, and the doormen actually smile and say hello to me now (guess they think I will be here until Christmas - huh!); I no longer cringe when the Dulcolax stool softening ads come on TV; I am seriously considering signing up for some Proactiv (that Jessica Simpson could sell ice to eskimos); I know where my local Junior's cheesecake outlet is; I know what a Philly cheesesteak is (ugh); I can catch a bus to Woodbury Common blindfolded; I know the exact layout of Saks and my local Duane Reid, Sephora, Banana Republic, Filenes, Loehmans, TK Maxx and Wholefoods; I have a favourite newspaper and local news channel (more for hilarity purposes than for news - there is no international news service in the US outside of BBC world service); I can get to work in a round trip of 14 minutes on the subway, door to door, and I know which exits and carriage doors I need, and where to stand on the platforms; I have 3 standard lunches that I eat, which I alternate as necessary to keep myself engaged; I am so used to re-runs of various American soaps that I have seen re-runs of the re-runs at 3am in the morning; I have two favourite jazz bars; I know the fastest public transport routes to Newark and JFK; I not longer have to carry my NFT guide with me everywhere; I push NYers out of the way on "sidewalks" as opposed to getting shoved myself; I can mutter about lousy tourists and their slow pace of meandering; I still hate Macy's but love Saks; I consider various options to get out of the city on weekends; and I hobnob with celebrities, as shown by...
my lovely meeting with a decidedly underwhelmed John Travolta which capped off last week! Could he look any more unimpressed? The venue was Ciprianis on 42nd, and the occasion the American Australian Association's annual black tie dinner. Lovely way to spend a Thursday night I have to say. Although running across the floor as John returned to his seat squealing "Mr Travolta! Mr Travolta! Sorry to be so annoying, but would you please allow us to have a photograph taken with you?" was hardly in keeping with the general ambience of the evening. But an opportunity too good to pass up!

I'm back baby!

Back in New York. Seems surreal after two weeks of floating around looking at icebergs and the occasional seal. Loved the trip - although the average age on board was about 65, that just served to make me feel like a teenager again. As with every long trip there were ups and downs, but mostly all ups. Don't think I will do another cruise for many years though, even though this trip could not really be described as a cruise - an expedition perhaps... I had also forgotten what cold was (funny since I normally live in London). With one pair thermal liner socks, one pair thick thermal socks, one pair long silver infused super heavy weight socks worn all at once, under neoprene lined rubber boots - my feet were STILL cold sitting on a zodiac. Amazing really. I also discovered one important fact about myself - I don't get seasick. Of course every time is different, but when most of the ship were lying retching in their beds crossing the Denmark Strait, I was tumbling along the corridors, or trying to shower whilst clinging to a wall as anything on the floor of the bathroom sloshed frantically from side to side whacking me on the ankles as the ship pitched in huge seas and a force 10 gale. Try shampooing whilst blind drunk, as someone hits your legs with hard objects and you will get the idea...
Nice to be back here in a lot of ways - I felt like I was home walking into the apartment - freshly cleaned and empty fridge. That is me! So went to Wholefoods last night (still the same), and staggered back under my usual heavy bags - damn my predeliction for freshly squeezed ruby red grapefruit juice I say!
On the upside, I returned to a lovely invitation to join my office's table at the Australian American Association's annual black tie dinner at Cipriani. Well, if I must ... So it was off to Saks today at lunch with Gayle to see what I could find to wear. Found a lovely Kay Unger cocktail dress which will do the job. Still need some shoes though... Unfortunately in my last trip back to the UK I took a lot of my formal clothes and also the summer stuff with me to forestall the inevitable problems when I move back. I seem to have accumulated a LOT of stuff here. How did I fit in 3 suitcases on the way over?? I see problems ahead. Best not to think about it yet.
It is a long weekend this weekend - Columbus Day of all things. I have no plans yet, but that is never a problem. I am weighing up whether to head out of town on a little train trip, or whether to stay in town, see some jazz, do some sightseeing and some sports activity in Central Park. So many options. Sleeping in also seems nice. After a week of staying up to 3am on the boat drinking with the only other people under 40, then up at 7:30am for breakfast and another day of hiking, iceberging etc, I am overdue some sleep. Plus reading the papers - I really missed the news on the ship. With no mobile coverage, and no TV etc, the world could have gone to war for all I knew. There is something both relaxing and frustrating about that.
And by news, I don't just mean missing the last couple of episodes of Project Runway. To be honest I did not give a thought to the final designers and what was happening. I was more concerned about the Middle East and what was happening with Tony Blair. Guess that means that I am either more grown-up than I thought, or just more boring!

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!

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!

Surly in summer

All those things about friendly store assistants I take back. I had Cruella de Ville and her equally surly sister yesterday. One in Barnes and Noble where I was happily spending my father's birthday present to me (a very nice gift voucher), and then one in Century 21 where I was buying some shoes. I seem to end up with a lot of USD100 notes, and these really are not welcome currency around the place. I had to wait for AGES in Century 21 to buy some shoes (I don't know how people work so slowly), and only one register was taking cash - all the others were cards only (?? how does that work, I can understand cash only if the bank systems are down, but cards only??!). So after patiently standing for 10 minutes while one person was served I finally got to the head of the queue. My shoes were USD29.99, and I handed over one of my USD100 notes. This is a large store for those who haven't been, where they have plenty of cash. She looked at it like it was dirt, and sniffed up at me "Do you have anything smaller?" Well, I did, but I wanted the change and had queued for the privilege. So I just said mildly "No, that's why I have queued in your line for 10 minutes". Needless to say we didn't speak again as I completed the transaction.
Maybe it is the heat. The heat is like a wall when you walk outside. A hot sweaty wall. Kind of like a forcefield in a science fiction show, but one where it collapses on you like a big sticky spiders web. Lovely huh? I am, however, breezing through the crowds in a cool summer work dress, snappy high heels and my hair up, large sunglasses and good posture, admired by all who behold me. I like to imagine I am very Audrey Hepburn-esque --- until I catch a glimpse in a window as I walk by and see a medium height, chunky person charging through crowds with people flying out of my way, giving me dirty looks as I elbow them aside. We can all dream I guess - my posture is good though.
People have also become very attached to the two little words "Excuse me". Twice in two days on the weekend I ran into this - the first time was in Wholefoods, as I walked past three large fat people ambling slowly around the store. Well, as I was passing the one on the right, she took a sidestep so I bumped her bag slightly. I kept on walking, as this was one of those unavoidable knocks - she walked into me. If I had been her I would have realised this. She, on the other hand, didn't. "ExxcccUUUUUUUUUSSssse MAAAHYEEEE!" I hear brayed from behind me. "Thasss whut peeple saaaayy when they knock intuh someone, exxccccUUUUSssssse maahhyeeee!" I had had it by this time, so I turned around, smiled very sweetly everywhere but my eyes, and said "Please excuse me for knocking into your bag. It was completely involuntary and I am so sorry for any inconvenience caused to you or your friends". Needless to say intelligence was inversely proportionate to size, and I got a "humph, well thass okay then". Yeah right.
Then yesterday on the tube downtown these two lovely men got on and inadvertently stepped in front of a girl trying to get on as well. They just kept going (which is kind of what you do, as there are some real shovers out there, they really hadn't done anything). Well, for the next few stops, it was all "Waahhl, some people jess doan know how to say exxccuUUUUse mahyeee anymore, why doan people say exccccuuuuUUUUsse me..." You get the picture. So obviously we all need to learn some manners and rediscover excuse me's... Or just start taking taxis everywhere. Tough choice really!

Lavatories

A topic I have been trying to avoid as I don't like to dwell on the negative, but it is now time to be honest. I hate US loos! Restrooms, bathrooms, facilities, ablutions, whatever you want to call them, I don't know how they developed the mechanism that they have in America. Basically a giant pond, which is about one foot off the ground. When I was 15 my school required me to do community service once a month (everyone had to, it wasn't like a punishment for bad behaviour - I am of course the person that get certificates for diligence and full attendance at school!). I chose to do my volunteering at a kindergarten... where I had to use the kindy toilets - they were about 30cm off the ground. Well, if you expanded the toilets into giant ponds that are 30cm off the ground, then welcome to America. Just awful. I was just reading on Just Jared that apparently when Madonna travels she has to have a new toilet seat installed everywhere she stays, which is destroyed when she leaves "so it doesn't end up on ebay"! Whilst I would not be bidding for Madonna's loo seat on ebay, I do envy the action of always having a new pristine seat. I hate foreign toilet seats. When RRPP moved into my flat in the UK, she purchased a new toilet seat. There is nothing wrong with this.
Now, so that I don't seem unreasonable, I have travelled through China and SE Asia, and have a nasty acquaintance with the squat toilet facilities, which you did get used to over time (although I won't be installing one), but it is completely unhygienic and very offputting to have to avail oneself of the pond.
Glad I got that off my chest, promise not to mention it again!

Love Island and other adventures

... I still have a minor on-off headache. Still mildly interesting, but I am wearing my glasses at work which does help (although it doesn't very attractive).
I haven't had a chance to miss Love Island as RRPP is keeping me up to date. Of course she is now finally at the stage where she is admitting that she does love Brendan. There are all sorts of caveats of course "who else would you be with?" and "he isn't so bad" and then some gushing about how he won the Strongest Man competition... concerning.
I am also planning my days whilst in Washington, so if anyone has any suggestions for must sees, let me know ....
So what else is going on? Well, I am now a regular on the subway to and from work. Very easy and convenient (and air-conditioned). I am on the local trains too so usually get a seat. I did notice a very interesting print advert on the subway this morning. There was a picture of 4 people, with the caption "As a Jew I was not interested in Jesus, until..." and then the pictures show them all smiling, and asking you to check out the website for "Jews for Jesus"????!!!! Fascinating. I was almost tempted to check it out, but managed to restrain myself. How much stranger can things get. Normally the adverts are just for English as a foreign language... I am trying to ration my trips to Sephora. And I am also getting engrossed in the new Project Runway (love Heidi Klum - I am going to start saying Auf Wiedersehen when I leave the office at night). They are so catty on that program too - just fantastic. New episode on tonight, and I can't wait. It made it much more real too when I watch Miss Universe (god bless Donald Trump, who rescued that beauty pageant from obscurity, wonder why??). The second challenge on Project Runway was for the designers to come up with a dress for the evening wear section of the show, and Kayne won (a rather lavender-ish designer whose sisters are all pageant queens). Well, Tara (Miss USA) actually wore the dress. She made it to the final 5 in the competition, but unfortunately was 4th runner up - I guess that kind of means she came last! She would need lightning to strike 4 people before she can wrestle that crown off Miss Puerto Rico who actually won. What they didn't show is that 3 minutes after Miss Puerto Rico was crowned she half fainted and had to be carried off the stage. So now the rumours are going around about anorexia and not eating on the day to get through the swimsuit competition. Carson Daly (from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy) was there for "comments" and was really nasty about the contestants of course. Right down to saying some of the contestants in their bikins had short legs, and didn't have "snappy turns" or "weren't selling it!". It was a meat market. So bad it actually wasn't that hypnotic. But anyway, I ended up watching it mainly because of Project Runway ...

Some of my favourite things ...

1. The way that when it rains in NY, every store stations a couple of their staff at the door with plastic bags open, ready to receive your dripping umbrellas. That way you can carry them in the bag while you are browsing with no drips or wet slaps against your leg - I know it is probably OH&S drive, but I love it!
2. The hot chocolates at work - we have a very funky machine where you insert little sachets. However I read the ingredients today of the hot chocolate: sugar, skim milk, cocoa "processed with alkali", hydrogenated coconut oil, glucose syrup, salt, sodium caseinate, mono- & diglycerides of fatty acids, soya lecithin, dipotassium phosphate, sodium citrate, artificial flavour, silicon dioxide. Not one of my favourite things anymore - if you took out the first 3 ingredients that sounds like sunscreen!!
3. Planning a trip. Whilst SM (Sindy's Mom) is in town we are taking a side trip to Washington. After spending half a months salary on train tickets (wow Amtrak is certainly covering costs), we are off to spend a couple of nights in the capital, staying at a rather nice looking B&B called the Akwaaba DC. http://www.akwaaba.com/about_akwaaba/index.html Will let you know how it goes. So I have my guide book, have mapped where I want to go, and am starting on the itinerary!
4. Sunshine - more of it today, and I am still smiling.
5. American customer service. They really do know how to do it here. I went to buy the Amtrak tickets at Penn Station (stupid overseas credit cards don't work here as they check everything back to the billing address, which has to be in the US. Problem for those of us without local credit facilities...) and the queue moved very fast, and the lady I got at the end of it was lovely and efficient (probably helped that I gave her the printout of the trains I wanted).
6. Wholefoods queuing system: at the local supermarket they have three queues all for the same set of about 30 registers. You join the shortest queue. how does this work? Well, as each register becomes available, the head of each queue takes it in turns to go to that available register. So the size of people's purchases is completely immaterial, just pick the line with the shortest number of people, and you will get served in order! This is brilliant for me as I have a gift for choosing the slowest moving line in supermarkets - here that can't happen!
7. American stereotypes: they really are true and they surround you every day - fat policemen eating donuts; rude taxi drivers who drive like maniacs; steaming subway vents (although they have funky funnels they put over them now, so the steam comes out 8 feet in the air); people speaking with every second word being "like"; people saying "you're welcome" every time you say thankyou and meaning it ... the list goes on and on.
8. Sephora stores that stock Philosophy! Yesterday I did buy the Unplastic Surgery, and it is FANTASTIC. Even nicer was the delightful girl who served me, who said "You aren't buying this for yourself are you?" I did my usual when confronted with such questions and lied, saying "No, why?" and she said "Well, this is a wrinkle treatment and you don't have any! If it was for you I wouldn't sell it to you!" After wanting to reach over and kiss her for being so nice and so blind simultaneously, I did lie further and confess that it was for RRPP, my much older sister. I used it on my frown lines when I got home, and they really did smooth out - this is miracle stuff!

I have a headache...

I put it down to too much sun. At lunchtime today I escaped from the icebox that is my office, and went to get some lunch. Today I knew what I wanted, and where to get it (rare roast beef, parmigiano and arugula with mustard in a baguette from Pret) - very unusual for me as regular readers would know. However when I emerged into the sunshine, it reminded me of a line from a Betty Macdonald book called The Plague and I - one of my favourite books. It is autobiographical and is about a woman during the Depression in the USA who gets tuberculosis and goes to a state funded sanitorium. Their method of curing TB then was bedrest in very cool rooms. At one point Betty is with the advanced patients lying out on the verandah in the shade, when a beam of sunlight hits the back of her head. She was so cold that she said she felt like a frozen chicken that had just been slid into the warm oven. I never really knew what that felt like until today. The sun was so wonderful hitting me after the cold office, that I positively basked, wallowed and melted my way along 6th avenue. Normally I would head into the subway passages to avoid crossing all the streets between me and my lunch, but today I welcomed little red crossing men as it meant I could stand longer and soak up some more rays... Lovely!
That of course made me remember smugly that I had put sunscreen on my face this morning. Whilst in the UK RRPP decided to provide me with some gifts for my birthday (lovely of her). Amongst these were skincare products from the Philosophy range. Well, I have never been a cosmetics/skincare person (not hard to guess looking at me), but with my advanced years I knew something had to be done so I made some hints to RRPP. Now RRPP has tried every product there is and is somewhat of an afficionado - you want to know about skincare, ask her. She will generally be found wandering around the first level in Selfridges picking up samples. You want to know how to drywall or change a washer - ask me. Are we really genetically related??
So anyway, I am now back in the land of skincare. With a Sephora around every corner I am now stockpiling Philosophy skincare. Over the weekend I treated myself to an oxygen peel. I now layer on "Save Me" with some "Hope in a Tube" and "Hope is Not Enough" cream once I have cleansed with "Purity made simple". I also have "On a Clear Day" superwash for at night. Hence the need for SPF under my "Hope in a Bottle" during the day. A new guilty secret to hide. I may sneak back tonight and get the "Pigment of your Imagination" or maybe "Unplastic Surgery", just to annoy her.
Now, none of this has anything to do with my headache I am sure. Intellectually I find my headaches very interesting. I don't get the bog standard ones very often - maybe once a year or so. I do get migraines every now and then but they are a whole different kettle of fish! I think this headache may be to do with being at work. After a lovely weekend shopping (yes, me, shopping, not one of my favourite things, but it is so EASY here), and watching the Open golf while on the bike in the gym (had to slip that in too), I think my body does not want me to be at work. So I am going to listen to my body. And go home...

Food - good or bad?

I have been thinking a lot about food today for a change, mainly because a Sindyinnewyork reader decided to point out how much of the time I do mention food. Also, as you walk along the airbridges onto aircraft in London, HSBC has a lot of advertising plastered up, and the ones that got me were four separate posters sequentially along the wall. The first has a picture of gooey chocolate cake, and the caption "bad"; the next had a picture of broccoli and the caption "good" the next had the same picture of gooey chocolate cake, with the caption "good" and the final one had the broccoli again with "bad". That kind of sums up my relationship with food really, in that I think about both of those food items in that way. But recently I have started to think more that food is to be enjoyed. I have never been able to stick to diets. Totally different to my mother and RRPP, who can pick a diet and stick to it like limpets. I have no food control, I instead say to myself "guess I'll just have to spend another half hour in the gym tonight" ignoring the fact that I won't be spending 2 minutes in the gym tonight! Last night I had my first slice of Junior's cheesecake (apparently the best in NY, which is of course the home of cheesecake. I had the raspberry swirl. I always thought Philadelphia was the home of cheesecake, what with the philly cream cheese link, but I was misinformed, Philadelphia is the home of cheesesteak, a delicacy I have yet to try). Well, the Juniors slice was pretty special, and I am a cheesecake connoisseur, or so I like to think. Might have another slice tonight, although I did go to the gym this morning.
However RRPP is now on her own special diet. She is preparing a food diary for her personal trainer, who apparently can't see why his efforts aren't paying off. Her diary went as follows:
Breakfast: One egg mayo and water cress sandwich plus mozzarella and tomato croissant; hot chocolate
Lunch: Avocado salad wrap; Chunky Kit kat
Dinner: pasta with salsa and copious quantities of cheese grated over it and a few good glasses of wine, plus a couple of twix snacks.
Personal trainer is apparently a cross between Carl Lewis and Djimon Hounsou, so may not like the KitKat additions to her healthy diet!
I think she is also getting extra exercise leopard crawling to avoid the feral next door neighbour (FNDN). It seems that FNDN has launched an all out assault - her weapon of choice is the wilted leaves off a nasty vine which I pushed back through the lattice whilst in London. This is one of those nasty vines that grows a foot a day, has horrible curly sucker things, and giant leaves that bring your skin out in a rash. It needed to go. Unfortunately I did it on a hot day so the vine is now on its last branches, and I also forgot that FNDN is old, decrepit and has NOTHING else to do all day but complain. RRPP had already got caught a few times by FNDN in aimless conversations about food, so it was a fair bet that messing with her plant was messing with her. Sure enough, FNDN now spends a great deal of time when not pinging leaves over the fence, in sitting on the back steps shouting "B&RST&RDS" at the top of her voice, and complaining about RRPP to the other neighbours. Hopefully they realise how batty she is and just ignore her. This is why I did not want a back garden!
So I have a big weekend ahead - shopping and watching the golf, and reading some exciting documents for work, all avoiding the thunderstorms that are predicted for work. And maybe some more cheesecake ...