i'm in a field and i'm practically dead...

hey all

well, it's been another fun packed day today. finished up by going to see the black keys tonight in central park - yeay! i am very in love with this band... missed seeing them at the fillmore in san francisco last time i was in the usa - and tonight's gig was majorly sold out... so i go along to see if i can get a spare ticket. then i go too far uptown and end up walking for bloody miles in central park until i finally get there. it's very busy. so i'm walking along and there are lots of cool indie types hanging around but the first guy i get to is an old guy looking very normal and he asks if i want a ticket. immediately i'm suspicious (i am from london after all!) but he's cool about it and the ticket is $40 which is face value... so i ask him if it's dodgy - like he's gonna tell me if it is! he says he'll wait until i've gone in. so i go up feeling like i'm gonna get turned away, and they let me in - the tickets legit - yippee! i see the old guy wandering away... life is very random sometimes!

so i'm on my own and i hate going to gigs on my own - i get some beer - after getting a drinks wristband where the guy tells me not to advertise the fact that i have a british passport, i asked why and he said, becuase of the bp oil spill! nothing to do with me! i said. crazy yanks!

the morning benders are support - they're ok. it's hot and i've walked miles to get there and i've got a dress on and flip-flops which means i can't sit cross-legged on the floor so i'm uncomfortable and alone with my beer - boo!

then the black keys come on and blow me away... did i say how much i love them? they're fantastic and make quite a racket considering there's only two of them - drums and guitar/vocals. they play my fave song about third track in - it's fan-bloody-tastic.

beautiful evening - great music - i only wish that the crowd would shut up! there's guy having a long conversation in front of me about how much he loves the band while they're playing he's not even watching/listening - he then proceeds to get his phone out and text - what the hell?

dragged myself home - feet very sore, stupid flip-flops! belly very hungry, just made the biggest sandwich in the world and stuffed it, feeling grubby so off for a shower...

from the city that never sleeps... nighty night!

the band coming on:


and going off:

absolutely the last post today...

just wanted to mention this quickly...

i woke up at 1am last night cos something was biting me... i literally woke up to myself slapping my own leg to stop whatever was biting me to find a slightly squished spider on bed - urghhhhhhh - effing thing bit me twice on my thigh - had some scary moments while it hurt and stung and went red thinking i was going to die, etc. but then put some savlon on the bites and went back to sleep. only to wake up to find that a mosquito had also bitten me on the same thigh and it's blown up to a massive red welt (i'm very allergic to mosquitos).

what the hell?

today was a good day...

hello again

just a quick one - i had a nice day today...

first appointment with michael who is just great, i usually escort him to doctor's appointments, he has a lot of them... i don't feel like i'm very much help to him cos he uses his walker (like a zimmer, but way better!) so i really just accompany him and open doors and call elevators for him. but he's always so kind to me, on my last visit he wanted to buy me lunch and again today, so we went to one of my fave lunch places 'the corner cafe' and he bought me lunch - what a doll!

then i had a visit to a lady i've been trying to pin down for weeks, and she kept cancelling me, so i finally visited with her today and she's great! italian, with a terrific life story which she told me today - including lots of unsuitable men and ended up with her leaving italy with her young daughter and moving to the usa unable to speak english. very interesting and she said to me 'i think the men are fools to not want to marry you girls, beautiful, intelligent, chic, etc. but if they are fools then we don't want them anyway' ha ha ha! a lot of my clients all tell me how lovely i am, how well dressed, chic, intelligent, efficient, etc. i am - who knew! not me, obviously! but it's nice to be appreciated - which i hardly ever feel at home...

finished at her apartment and went to the supermarket then home where i ate too much ice-cream then off to yoga (absolutely always makes me feel so good!) then as it was getting dark i decided to go and investigate a park that is right on the eastern side of manhattan - charles schurz park - well, what a find, and it's only like 3 blocks from the apartment! walked along by the east river with a darkening blue sky and a huge yellow moon hanging there looking gorgeous, with the lights of queens twinkling on the opposite shore... quite magical

on the way there i saw someone who looked like shelley (female not male) and i came over all tearful and realised that i'm missing you all...

over and out for now
vx

where did that week go?

hey all

good god, i can't believe that it's been over a week since my last post... i have been staying at a different apartment 'cat sitting' for the last 7 days - needless to say, that i'm glad to be back at the old apartment, even though the shower here is terrible!

quick info on the last week:

friday - regular friday morning lecture with frouma - a very passionate, religious, jewish, ex-teacher, woman - she's a bit of a bossy boots, but we have fascinating conversations, albeit slightly exhausting! second appointment with lovely janice, she showed me a photo album that her family had made for her, pics of her from childhood, marriage, kids, from the 1920s to the 1970s, quite wonderful. final appointment with ann, more shopping! then off to yoga and then to west side midtown to see inception at the imax. great film - great twisty story and good cast (a good sprinkling of brits too!) i really enjoyed it.

saturday - sue (the lady whose apartment i'm staying in) left me 2 tickets to the american museum of natural history which had to be used by today - so i went along there with lucy. not my usual kind of museum (no paintings!) but it was interesting, we went to the planetarium there, much bigger and more swish than the old london one (rip!) with voiceover by whoopi goldberg - weird! then we visited the silk road exhibition which was interesting and then we went to the imax in the museum and watched a film about the hubble telescope - even weirder that it was voiced by leonardo di caprio... 2 imaxs in 2 days both with leo! had a quick whizz round the geology section, purely for me to look at the gems... oh beautiful sapphires, topaz, rubies, etc. came out of there and walked down central park west to look at the dakota where john lennon was shot, then popped into central park to have a look at strawberry fields where there is a kind of shrine to him - see pics... in the evening went over to williamsburg for drinkies - williamsburg is cool and laid-back and nice - we all liked it there and i'm sure we'll be back...

looking up in the museum:


eeek! a dinosaur!


the dakota from strawberry fields:


strawberry fields:


the 'shrine':



sunday - went to my regular sunday midday yoga session which is helping me keep sane. then i'm moving today so i go to pick up the keys from their apartment - they're off to the hamptons - lucky them! then dashed off to the old apartment to get changed and off up-up-uptown to meet steve for a bizarre and fantastic musical experience! there's a lady called marjorie eliot who has lost 2 of her 3 sons, so in celebration of the lives of the 2 who've died, she opens her apartment every sunday afternoon for a musical session including jazz, broadway songs, old songs and poetry from an assorted bunch of people. what a fantastic experience - i sat there with my jaw on the floor for most of it - please look at the pics, it's too difficult to describe, needless to say, it's small and intimate, no need for any amplification in her living room/kitchen/hall where rows of fold-up chairs are placed for us to sit on. her living son rudel, was just amazing, gorgeous singing voice and amazing piano player. there was a french saxophonist, an asian trumpeter, marjorie and her son taking turns on the piano, a female and male poet. never been to anything like this before but it touched me very deeply - big wow - bizarrely steve found it listed in his lonely planet guide! it finished around 7.30pm and it took forever to get home, pack, move stuff, feed cats, do laundry, eat food (at 11pm and i hadn't eaten since breakfast around 11am!) - fell into bed completely exhausted...

an unassuming apartment building in north west harlem:


the 'stage':


and the audience area:


marjorie and rudel:


the 'band':


the poets - the lady is Dfaye and the chap is Roger:




right - i'm gonna post this now and more updates tomorrow...

it's a jazz thing...

hey all

phew! what a day... i really felt like i'd had enough today and i really didn't want to go to my last appointment - but i did and it turned out to be a great visit... see, sometimes when i make myself do something it does work out... not always though!

while we were sitting out in the garden last night drinking beer, listening to eli paperboy reed and eating pizza i got bitten to death by those god damn mosquitoes - my legs are covered and i'm so allergic to the bites, my legs have blown up like balloons and feel so hot and swollen - NO MORE SITTING IN THE GARDEN - and before you say it, yes i did have repellent on... grrrrr

anyway, back to today - got home exhausted but dragged my sorry arse downtown as steve (jazz aficionado) was meeting me at a jazz club. i told him that i wanted to go to a proper jazz club - and it was the real deal, and everything i wanted it to be; small, round tables, waitress service, dingy, amazing band. was so good that when i arrived, steve and the others weren't there yet, and usually i would wait outside as i hate being in a bar on my own - but the music was so great that i got a table and a beer and just enjoyed it. what a great evening! steve's gonna get back to me on some jazz classics to start me off - i'm a bit of a jazz virgin (apart from gang starr - but i don't think they count!)

will definitely be going back to bar 55 - here's some pics:










thank god it's friday tomorrow... and we're going to see inception at the imax - bring it on!

laters
vx

the long day closes...

hey all

ok, today has been a long one! had a bit of a scare earlier when i went to call for allen to take him to the cello recital at search and care this afternoon. i had called him this morning and he said that he would love to go, so i said that i would call for him at 2pm and take him over the road to the recital.

so i go to call for him at 2pm and there's no answer... the doorman calls him but there's no answer so i go up to his apartment and ring, knock and call... no answer... i stay there for a good 5-10 minutes and nothing is happening... so i start to worry and i call the office. i go back to the doorman and he still can't get through. so the staff in the apartment block decide to open his door - this is quite a big deal...

so, 3 people get into his apartment and, of course, he's asleep! i was so worried and he is a bit cross that the head of the apartment block has been inside his apartment! i try to explain that we were all worried but that doesn't placate him... so i suggest we go over to the recital, and he's keen so we take a walk over there and it's fantastic!

the cellist is a friend of guy who works at search and care and she is just amazing:


i've never heard a solo cellist before and she really was fantastic. she played 3 pieces by bach - and everybody, including me, really loved it. then there was soda and cookies and then i escorted allen home which was good as he was pretty tired by then. we had a short chat about some of his paintings - he's amazing (he has some glass sculptures in the city in london).

i got back to the office in time to go home - but i was absolutely shattered! walked part of the way home with robin - she always makes me feel better about my day! do you think if i'm a good girl for the whole time she'll adopt me?

when i got home i did the washing up and went to the supermarket as helen and emilie were coming round for pizza - we got an enormous pizza, i made some salad and we got some cold beer and went and sat in the garden - we took my mac with my itunes on and it was lovely! i've been trying to persuade everyone to come and see eli paperboy reed with me cos he's fab - so i played his album and they wanna go to the gig! yippee! i also persuaded them to come along to the free gig that sharon jones and the dap kings are doing in brooklyn in a couple of weeks... all good! now i just need to find someone to come and see the black keys with me... but no-one knows them... looks like i'll be going on my own...

still a bit drunk... off to bed!
vx

rain

today it rained...

in fact it bloody poured down and i got caught out in it! it was kind of raining when i left my first appointment, but i continued on to my second and when it started getting serious i stopped in the corner cafe for lunch. when i came out it was ok, so i headed up to fifth avenue for my appointment... by the time i hit park avenue it was absolutely tipping down so i took shelter under an awning - most of the apartment blocks have them. 10 minutes later i was still there... i rang the lovely phyllis and told her that i was stuck under an awning and that i would be there as soon as i could.

this is the view from under my awning:


when it subsided a bit i just went for it, but slippery flip-flops aint easy to walk in! just as i was about to cross the road to phyllis's a man came down the street selling umbrellas - so i bought one for $5 and i said to him 'where were you 10 minutes ago?' and he replied 'i was running to find you!' which i thought was totally brilliant!

i crossed the street and arrived to phyllis looking like a drowned rat... now phyllis is a terribly glamorous, beautiful 93 year old who was famous in her youth and has a gorgeous apartment on fifth avenue. i had a lovely chat with her, but the funny thing was that she asked me about my leggings (which i was wearing - in my usual way - with a dress) - she said 'well, you look very chic today, but why do you wear those things?', i was slightly nonplussed... so i replied 'to stop me flashing my underwear if a breeze blows up my skirt and to stop my legs sticking to plastic chairs' which she seemed to think a suitable answer! honestly - the odd questions i get!

after work i stopped by to see john and jean who i am going to be cat sitting for for a week starting this sunday. they live a couple of blocks from here in a lovely apartment on 90th and york. they have two very well loved cats, sammy and bobby - but they're going to pay me to stay there for a week and look after them - so it's all good as far as i'm concerned!

dashed away from seeing them to meet some of the others in central park to see the new york philharmonic play a free concert in the park - which was wonderful. they actually had two orchestras playing, them and the shanghai symphony orchestra (i think). it was wonderful and the stand-outs were the shanghai orchestra doing 'rhapsody in blue' and the ny orchestra doing 'bolero' - made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up!

home feeling happy but very grubby - shower - blog - bed

nightie night
vx

back up, back up...

ok, i'm gonna stop watching very bad american tv to give you a proper update on my work here...

robin is my boss - and one of the nicest people i have ever met. she is always interested in my welfare and what i have to say - she is also extremely kind and generous. she makes me feel embarassed sometimes as i'm not used to people being so nice to me. a genuine gem - she is making my placement here so much easier.

so, on the first day in the office, i met crystal and jesse. both are young volunteers who are doing the same kind of thing as me for the summer. jesse is studying at college and is interested in going into social work. crystal is 15 and is still at school - she has given up most of her school summer holiday to volunteer at search and care. the only thing that i've found quite strange about them both is that they don't seem in the least bit interested in me - not that i'm anything special - but they haven't really asked anything about me, where i live, what i do, or anything really and i think that's a bit weird!

anyway, on the first day robin sat us down and went through the list of search and care's clients - with a brief description of the person and which one of us would be looking after them. then we were sent off with our lists and phone numbers and a weekly diary and that was it - we started making calls and setting up our weekly diary schedules. quite scary for me to call people i've never met - i talk fast especially when i'm flustered - and had to slow it down considerably as a lot of the clients couldn't understand what the hell i was on about.

also, on the first day, as well as arranging our schedule - i went on my first visit with jesse. we went to visit ann to return some groceries that jesse had bought for her the previous week. it was only a short visit but very interesting.

the next day my visits started properly. i'm averaging around 4 visits a day - which was absolutely petrifying for all the first visits. i'm feeling much more confident about it now as i've met nearly everyone on my list - and subsequent visits are much easier than the first ones when you have no idea what the person is like or what kind of state their apartment is in.

most of my clients are wonderful - but they are all desperately lonely - it's really brought it home to me that it doesn't matter how many kids you have or grandchildren or other family members - or how many friends you have - or how fulfilling your life has been. all of these people that i'm visiting have had these things - but as they get older, their spouses die and their friends die and their family don't visit so much anymore - and they are alone in a big city that they no longer understand. they are wonderful, funny, interesting, clever people but they are old and alone and this makes them confused and a bit cross sometimes too!

i'm really starting to think that the elderly are just a massively overlooked part of the population - both in the US and UK. so, if you have any grandparents or an elderly neighbour... you really should call on them...

i saw matty again today (see photo) - she's 93 and a born and bred new yorker - although her parents came from romania. she's an absolute doll and i'd like to be like her if i ever get to 93. she lives life to the full - she has a beautiful apartment, she's an artist (all those pics in the background are hers) and still goes to art and sculpture class 3 days a week. she has also recently learned to play the cello. we even had tea and cake on my visit today... don't know why i look so grumpy!!!!

oops! another week flies by...

hey all

well, i can't believe it's sunday night again... turning out to be laundry night for me - rock n roll!

however, it's been another phenomenal weekend - have hardly taken a breath!

friday night a few of us went to the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid to sit on the flight deck and watch ghostbusters! oh yes - check the photos! now, as many of you know, ghostbusters is in my top 10 films - i'm not sure many of you really believe it - but i can assure you it's true. i sat through the whole film with a big grin on my face - the setting was pretty incredible i can tell you - the new york skyline behind us, inflatable cinema screen, river, then new jersey ahead of us, beautiful clouds and stars above us! until just before the end, the inflatable screen kind of collapsed - everyone boo'ed until they fixed it to whooops and cheers from the crowd - very funny! then out for a couple of beers - so of course i was drunk... home at around 2.30am - v v tired!

spent the day shopping on saturday with zoe - bought a few things - but left the prada sunglasses in the shop... will probably go back for them, they were gorgeous!

sunday morning i just chilled out, then went to yoga. then went off to central park summer stage to see jimmy cliff (legend!) it rained a bit but was still hot hot hot. he played a really good greatest hits set - 'wonderful world, beautiful people', 'i can see clearly now the rain has gone', 'the harder they come' and a really beautiful version of 'many rivers to cross'. then went off to dinner with steve and then home to the laundry!

so, another amazing weekend in the big apple! promise i will tell all about work soon... there are just not enough hours in the day...

love you all
vx

back to work...

hey all

well, the holidays are over and it was back to work today... i had 3 appointments, then i added another, but that was subsequently cancelled.

i haven't really spoken about work much on here so far, as i either haven't had the internet or it's been the weekend, but i'm finding it pretty tough. the people are (mostly) lovely - but they are all desperately lonely and it's making me very sad.

i must back up a little and start from the beginning really about work - but i'm exhausted and going to go to bed now, i'll try and fill you in about the work placement tomorrow when i have a bit more time - then i can introduce my clients better and you lot will get a better idea of what i'm up to.

it's been another long day today and just ridiculously hot - over 100 degrees. you brits may think that sounds great, but it's really unpleasant when you have to walk around in it all day! i mean, i can't even walk in the sun for a few seconds as it is too hot - i'm always on the shady side of the street!

off to bed...
vx

independence day

hey all

happy independence day!

bizarrely, it's only been like a day since i last posted, but a lot of things happen in new york in 24 hours!

we went to see jersey boys yesterday and it was fantastic - i loved all the songs, and we had really good seats. in true viki style, i was late - having waited 20 minutes for a connecting subway train - grrrr - me and public transport just don't mix... so i ran into the theatre and just had time for a restroom visit and about 30 seconds after i sat down it started - phew!!!

after the show we pootled around, heading for the east village where we were supposed to be meeting up with john - but that was too complicated and we were too hot and very hungry - then we happened across a fab little restaurant called 'B bar and grill' with a gorgeous outside garden where we sat and had some lovely food. we missed out on dessert to sample the cocktails - i had a spiced margarita - wow - super strong but mmmmmm-mmmmmm! then off for more drinkies for john's b-day - then off home to bed for me!

had a relaxing morning this morning then headed off to yoga and a spot of shopping. went over to the west-side to international house, where we went up to the roof to watch the fireworks - we were a bit too far uptown, but they were still pretty amazing... then sooooo hungry - and we went to the diner made famous by suzanne vega's song 'tom's diner' and the diner used for the exterior shots in seinfeld!!!! how cool?

saturday 3 july

hey all

well it's a beautiful saturday morning, i've been blobbing around in the apartment this morning - nice just to chill for a bit after a hectic week. was gonna go to yoga, but didn't make it...

eclipse was suitably rubbish last night - but we all really enjoyed it! jacob really comes to the forefront in this movie and he gets all the best lines too! and it appears that he doesn't own too many t-shirts... go see and you'll understand what i'm on about! went for a couple of beers afterwards - laughed a lot - was fun to just hang out for a bit.

so, this morning my mate cat got in touch and she's got free tickets to go and see 'jersey boys' today... as you know i'm not usually a big 'musicals' fan - but i'm excited! she blagged 4 tickets - her placement seems to have really good freebies! so we're off to the matinee at 2pm today - then off to the east village for pizza and then on to a bar for john's b-day...

catch you later
vx

friday night in nyc

in true new york style, i've just been for a manicure and pedicure - so i've traded in my skanky feet and nail-bitten hands for beautiful red fingers and toes! honestly, i was pretty disgusted by the diva behaviour of the nyc girls in the salon - they treat the manicurists like crap... not good! they nearly died of shock when i said thank you! they also found it hilarious when i was freaking out because my feet are super-sensitive and i don't normally let anyone touch them!

so, despite everyone else finishing at search and care at 2pm today - i made my last visit today to ann - we took a walk to the park where i left her to go and get some shopping for her - but of course she complained when i bought it back and one thing was wrong... ho hum! so i was with her until 4.45 and then i made a quick getaway!

so - the big news is that i'm off to see eclipse tonight! yippee - time for a bit of edward action! there's 4 girls going, strangely the boys didn't fancy it! then we'll be going for drinks... i love it here!

oh, another good thing is that this week the weather has cooled so that it is the perfect temperature - it has been wonderful - although it's due to get hotter again this weekend!

we have a bank holiday this weekend - it's july 4th - happy independence day everyone!!!

vx