monday morning... so it's back to work! i arrived at the office to see everyone and meet the new people. search & care has grown since i was last here and the office has been refurbished too - more offices for the new people and a slightly different layout... but things are much the same! robin introduced me to everyone and then we sat down and went through my client list, lots of new ones and a couple of old ones too!
back in 2010 i remember robin giving me my list and me being utterly terrified to go and call these people i've never met before. this year i was slightly less terrified, but speaking on the phone is still not my favourite thing to do. but, i just got on with it and before i knew it i had 3 appointments for monday and the rest of week pretty much full up too.
i walked uptown to my first appointment; ruth is blind, but also one of the most busy people around! she's a practicing pastor, so she lives next door to her church, but she constantly has people coming and going, all helping her out in their way. i managed to chat with her briefly, between her other visitors and many phone calls! then it was off to do some shopping for someone who lives in a particular building that has the worst elevators i've ever witnessed, basically there are only 2 in a huge building, and one of them is broken and has been for some time... and apparently is going to take another 3 months to get fixed... so it took 15 minutes to get to the 22nd floor - which is ridiculous when there are old and sick people living there... more about this later! this appointment took so long that i had to cancel my final appointment that day - which i hate to do, especially on my first day... feeling completely exhausted i headed back to the office as they were having a party to celebrate the office refurb. i struggled here if i'm honest, i was really tired, there was yummy bad food everywhere and lots of new people to meet and chat too. as i was escorting my other lovely host home, i stayed until she was ready to leave, but she was one of the guests of honour so we didn't manage to leave until 9ish - so i saw her home before heading back to my new home and falling into bed.
tuesday was crazy-busy! in my keeness i had arranged 5 appointments so there was really no time to do anything else... and it all came back to me about always knowing where the nearest bathroom is! as i wrote about in 2010, it can be awkward to ask to use a client's loo - so i always need to know where the nearest one is after i leave! starbucks are still the best places, as there are so many of them in the city... but, unlike in 2010, you now need to get a code to get in the locked doors...
on a different note, today i met the two little doggies that i'll be walking while i'm here. tiny is a tiny little white dog - a mini poodle maybe? but really small, hence the name! her owner is deborah, who's life has changed so much since having a stroke. she has a great apartment right next to the top of central park and that is where we took tiny for a lovely walk in the sunshine. the other little pooch i'm walking is called gizmo and he does look like the little gremlin! his owner is quite sick and although she does take him out, it's nice for her to have a little break while i take him for an hour. we walked over to my favourite nyc park, carl schurz park which is next to the east river. in the evening i headed back to pure yoga and joined until the end of july - yes, it was expensive, but i gotta keep cool, stretched and sane... and yoga really helps me with that!
wednesday was a little quieter, with just 3 appointments, a shopping trip, an escort to and from a physical therapy appointment and a visit to the most lovely man, mario and his kitty-kat alejandro. mario is a joy to visit, he's funny, interesting, arty, intellectual and just really nice to be around. it will never be a chore to spend time with him!
thursday was even quieter, i spent the morning in the office and the afternoon at 2 appointments. these were a step back in time, as both visits were to old clients of mine from 2010. elona is still looking amazing and her mind is sharp, i just wish she was happier... and then off to see lovely matty and her wonderful carer judith - these two gals are real sweeties! it was great to catch up with them all. but i have to say that this day was marred by the EU referendum result... i'm not going to dwell on it here, but what a disappointment! i'm glad i voted before i left london, but it didn't go the way i expected. amazingly, it's been quite big news here, although i'm not sure everyone quite understands the intricacies of the whole thing, i think we're already considered a part of europe by most new yorkers anyway!
after work i headed to midtown as there was a free screening of 'the secret life of pets'... which involved queuing for about an hour with a load of kids and their parents and me... grrrr! but the film was sweet and funny which made up for the wait
yeay - made it to friday! which started with another visit to mario, then to another new client, a lady who is blind but she reads so much! she has this great machine that uses digital tapes which contain the whole book - no faffing about with multiple cassettes or cds. she told me all about the great library they have and that they send the tapes and the machine free of charge to blind people so they can keep reading if they want to. i've worked in publishing for around 10 years and have never heard of this! we talked about it a lot... i think she thought i was a bit obsessed by it - but i just thought it was a great idea! my day ended with a walk to carl schurz park with gizmo, then i headed to yoga after i dropped him off.
Saturday, 9 July 2016
first days
ok - so it's saturday night and it's pouring with rain... time to sit down and write something. sorry i made such a big deal telling everyone to keep checking the blog and then not bothering to post anything!
my trip over to new york was about as uneventful as you want a trip to be! unusually for me, there was no drama and i arrived at JFK and made my way by subway uptown to the new place i'll be staying at at 96th street between 3rd and lexington avenue. i'm always so happy to come back to new york! arrived and met my lovely host, patsy who showed me to my lovely room which has become my new home here - and it has an en suite bathroom - so i feel like i'm staying in a hotel!
my first weekend is all a bit of a blur now that i'm thinking back... and of course i didn't remember to write anything in my diary about what i did! i think i took a stroll around the neighbourhood, seeing what was new and what has disappeared. but not a huge amount of change really, probably the most noticeable thing is the amount of new apartment blocks going up... so a lot of noisy, disruptive building work going on. also, if you can believe it, the 'new' 2nd avenue subway is still under construction! that had already started when i came over in 2010 and it looks no nearer being finished! the crossrail in london has pretty much all happened in that time and i'm sure it will open before the new subway here! it's crazy!
so, i think i mainly mooched around and shopped and ate bad food...
but i had made a date to see robin on saturday night and oh! what joy to see her again. i called for her at her apartment and we had a lovely catch-up over a glass of wine, before going out for italian food at a place nearby. she always makes me feel soooo welcome! it's weird how we can just pick up again after a couple of years!
my trip over to new york was about as uneventful as you want a trip to be! unusually for me, there was no drama and i arrived at JFK and made my way by subway uptown to the new place i'll be staying at at 96th street between 3rd and lexington avenue. i'm always so happy to come back to new york! arrived and met my lovely host, patsy who showed me to my lovely room which has become my new home here - and it has an en suite bathroom - so i feel like i'm staying in a hotel!
my first weekend is all a bit of a blur now that i'm thinking back... and of course i didn't remember to write anything in my diary about what i did! i think i took a stroll around the neighbourhood, seeing what was new and what has disappeared. but not a huge amount of change really, probably the most noticeable thing is the amount of new apartment blocks going up... so a lot of noisy, disruptive building work going on. also, if you can believe it, the 'new' 2nd avenue subway is still under construction! that had already started when i came over in 2010 and it looks no nearer being finished! the crossrail in london has pretty much all happened in that time and i'm sure it will open before the new subway here! it's crazy!
so, i think i mainly mooched around and shopped and ate bad food...
but i had made a date to see robin on saturday night and oh! what joy to see her again. i called for her at her apartment and we had a lovely catch-up over a glass of wine, before going out for italian food at a place nearby. she always makes me feel soooo welcome! it's weird how we can just pick up again after a couple of years!
Thursday, 7 July 2016
hey all
yes, finally getting round to posting on the blog... back in nyc for 5 weeks from mid june until the end of july 2016... sorry for not posting sooner, but i have been a) too busy, b) too hot, c) too sick, d) too busy! oh, and i couldn't get this blogging website to work... answer - try a different browser!
so, i suppose i better fill in what i've been doing for the past couple of weeks that i've been here and not been blogging - bad me!
right... let's go back to the beginning...
yes, finally getting round to posting on the blog... back in nyc for 5 weeks from mid june until the end of july 2016... sorry for not posting sooner, but i have been a) too busy, b) too hot, c) too sick, d) too busy! oh, and i couldn't get this blogging website to work... answer - try a different browser!
so, i suppose i better fill in what i've been doing for the past couple of weeks that i've been here and not been blogging - bad me!
right... let's go back to the beginning...
Monday, 10 February 2014
the last days...
oh dear, i can't believe i've been home for a full week already!!! i miss being in the usa...
so, the last couple of days in new york were super-busy but fun! i found out that there was some ballet on at lincoln center so i booked a ticket and headed down there for the matinee. the last time i was at lincoln center was in 2010 to see q-tip do one song at some free event that was going on... it was summer then and hot! i headed across town on the bus and then walked down broadway for a bit, then caught the bus down as i was running out of time! lincoln center was celebrating the chinese new year so there were two massive gold and red horses up in the portico and some huge chinese lanterns strung around the square. it was cold, so i didn't hang around outside... i picked up my ticket and headed inside the theatre - much different than the royal opera house - more modern, a bit 70s style actually! found my seat and was slightly dismayed to find that i was sat next to someone in sweat pants who quite obviously hadn't washed for a while... luckily i ended up having two spare seats next to me, so i slid over - phew!
the ballet was a mixed programme, all three pieces choreographed by balanchine though - which is all good! the first piece was lovely, called 'concerto barocco' with music by bach. the second piece was quite angular and spiky - called 'kammermusik no. 2' with music by paul hindemith. then there was an intermission before the second half which was called 'who cares?' with all the music by gershwin - i was in absolute heaven! it was perfect, gorgeous costumes, glorious dancing and wonderful music - the score was 16 gershwin songs smushed together - there was one section called 'the man i love' which was danced so incredibly beautifully - i was spellbound.
after the ballet i had a couple of hours to kill, so went off to get my nails done - well, it is new york!!! so i went and finally got a shellac manicure - and i love it! i still haven't got any chips... it's a miracle!
then i wandered down broadway for a bit, before jumping on the subway without looking and getting on an express by mistake!!! next thing i was up at 125 street and supposed to be at 74th... grrrr! found the non-express going back the other way, but it meant i was a bit late to meet ashley, a volunteer who i'd met at sundance who lives over on the west side, for dinner. she took me to this super-cool restaurant/bar called jacob's pickles... full of west-side hipsters with a line out of the door. but we got a great table and the food was amazing... so were the cocktails! highly recommended!!! so we had a fun evening in there - then ashley insisted on waiting with me for the cross-town bus, despite the fact that it was freezing cold!!!
i was up and about at a reasonable time on sunday, packing my bag and generally sorting myself out... don't want to leave - i stupidly thought that four days in new york would be enough... who was i kidding? my airbnb host let me leave my suitcase in the apartment for a few hours... my flight isn't until 9pm, so i have loads of time...
so, i had tried to make some appointments with a couple of my old clients, but without my phone and no phone in the apartment, i had to use public phones (yuck!) to try and organise some visits... i didn't manage to get hold of elona, but did make an appointment to see margaret at 11.15 on sunday morning. i took her some coffee and it was great to see her. i started off by finding the classical station on her radio before we sat down and had a good catch-up, then a discussion about film and art. she's lonely, but her mind is as sharp as a tack!
after i left her, i walked over to the neue galerie, a beautiful little museum a couple of blocks away which specialises in german and austrian art from the early twentieth century. it's pretty small in there, but there was an exhibition of modern german posters which was all in one room, but there were some gorgeous examples in there... there was also a kandinsky exhibition on, which was good - some great and not so great pieces in there.
then it was time to go and get my super-heavy bag and think about leaving... but i had a load of time left so i dragged my bag down the many stairs and off to my favourite neighbourhood place - the corner cafe - and had a leisurely lunch before heading downtown on the bus and then over to jfk... now the last time i did this journey was with pneumonia in a blizzard - this time was SO MUCH better! pootled around the airport with loads of time to kill - i was early for a change! so, i fired up the laptop to check email/facebook... only to find out that my very favourite actor, philip seymour hoffman had died... oh, what tragic news... he had been at sundance with two films (i only saw one - god's pocket) and he had been at eccles when i was working there, unfortunately i missed him. i'm just so incredibly sad that he will no longer be on the cinema screen. this event really marred the end to my amazingly brilliant trip...
over and out for now...
so, the last couple of days in new york were super-busy but fun! i found out that there was some ballet on at lincoln center so i booked a ticket and headed down there for the matinee. the last time i was at lincoln center was in 2010 to see q-tip do one song at some free event that was going on... it was summer then and hot! i headed across town on the bus and then walked down broadway for a bit, then caught the bus down as i was running out of time! lincoln center was celebrating the chinese new year so there were two massive gold and red horses up in the portico and some huge chinese lanterns strung around the square. it was cold, so i didn't hang around outside... i picked up my ticket and headed inside the theatre - much different than the royal opera house - more modern, a bit 70s style actually! found my seat and was slightly dismayed to find that i was sat next to someone in sweat pants who quite obviously hadn't washed for a while... luckily i ended up having two spare seats next to me, so i slid over - phew!
the ballet was a mixed programme, all three pieces choreographed by balanchine though - which is all good! the first piece was lovely, called 'concerto barocco' with music by bach. the second piece was quite angular and spiky - called 'kammermusik no. 2' with music by paul hindemith. then there was an intermission before the second half which was called 'who cares?' with all the music by gershwin - i was in absolute heaven! it was perfect, gorgeous costumes, glorious dancing and wonderful music - the score was 16 gershwin songs smushed together - there was one section called 'the man i love' which was danced so incredibly beautifully - i was spellbound.
after the ballet i had a couple of hours to kill, so went off to get my nails done - well, it is new york!!! so i went and finally got a shellac manicure - and i love it! i still haven't got any chips... it's a miracle!
then i wandered down broadway for a bit, before jumping on the subway without looking and getting on an express by mistake!!! next thing i was up at 125 street and supposed to be at 74th... grrrr! found the non-express going back the other way, but it meant i was a bit late to meet ashley, a volunteer who i'd met at sundance who lives over on the west side, for dinner. she took me to this super-cool restaurant/bar called jacob's pickles... full of west-side hipsters with a line out of the door. but we got a great table and the food was amazing... so were the cocktails! highly recommended!!! so we had a fun evening in there - then ashley insisted on waiting with me for the cross-town bus, despite the fact that it was freezing cold!!!
i was up and about at a reasonable time on sunday, packing my bag and generally sorting myself out... don't want to leave - i stupidly thought that four days in new york would be enough... who was i kidding? my airbnb host let me leave my suitcase in the apartment for a few hours... my flight isn't until 9pm, so i have loads of time...
so, i had tried to make some appointments with a couple of my old clients, but without my phone and no phone in the apartment, i had to use public phones (yuck!) to try and organise some visits... i didn't manage to get hold of elona, but did make an appointment to see margaret at 11.15 on sunday morning. i took her some coffee and it was great to see her. i started off by finding the classical station on her radio before we sat down and had a good catch-up, then a discussion about film and art. she's lonely, but her mind is as sharp as a tack!
after i left her, i walked over to the neue galerie, a beautiful little museum a couple of blocks away which specialises in german and austrian art from the early twentieth century. it's pretty small in there, but there was an exhibition of modern german posters which was all in one room, but there were some gorgeous examples in there... there was also a kandinsky exhibition on, which was good - some great and not so great pieces in there.
then it was time to go and get my super-heavy bag and think about leaving... but i had a load of time left so i dragged my bag down the many stairs and off to my favourite neighbourhood place - the corner cafe - and had a leisurely lunch before heading downtown on the bus and then over to jfk... now the last time i did this journey was with pneumonia in a blizzard - this time was SO MUCH better! pootled around the airport with loads of time to kill - i was early for a change! so, i fired up the laptop to check email/facebook... only to find out that my very favourite actor, philip seymour hoffman had died... oh, what tragic news... he had been at sundance with two films (i only saw one - god's pocket) and he had been at eccles when i was working there, unfortunately i missed him. i'm just so incredibly sad that he will no longer be on the cinema screen. this event really marred the end to my amazingly brilliant trip...
over and out for now...
Friday, 31 January 2014
oh shops... how i've missed you!
hey all
i am so happy to be back in new york... it's cold here but it's been fairly sunny today - oh! it even snowed a bit today.
so i got here on wednesday night as i lost a few hours flying from denver to new york. i took the bus from la guardia to the upper east side where i'm staying - see, i'm still trying to be a local! my airbnb place is great - my room is really big - although it's a 5th floor walk-up so dragging my bag up all those stairs nearly gave me a heart attack! but now i'm here i only need to worry about getting my bag back down again.
thursday was spent doing laundry (yawn!) and having a potter around the neighbourhood... some places are the same, some have changed and some have gone altogether. in the evening i met up with robin and we had a lovely italian dinner together. so great to see her and catch up on the last year and a bit. she always makes me feel good about myself - unfortunately, it never lasts very long...
today i went shopping!!! much as i loved sundance and park city - it's not a place for shopping, not that i had the time anyway! went up to target and old navy first - how disappointing... nothing to buy there... so went downtown and got loads of stuff! bought quite a bit in my favourite new york shop - brooklyn industries - then bought some new boots too... not sure where i'm gonna pack all this stuff as my case is already busting at the seams.
i tried to go to a film - but missed the showing of 'inside llewyn davis' and then when i went back to see 'wolf of wall street' it was sold out... wtf! i know i've seen a lot of films just recently, but really... i can't get to see a film in new york city?!?!?! so i went and bought nice food in wholefoods and came back to my room and watch old re-runs of 'frasier' and 'the golden girls' - back to the 80s!!!
can't believe this trip is nearly over... boo!
i am so happy to be back in new york... it's cold here but it's been fairly sunny today - oh! it even snowed a bit today.
so i got here on wednesday night as i lost a few hours flying from denver to new york. i took the bus from la guardia to the upper east side where i'm staying - see, i'm still trying to be a local! my airbnb place is great - my room is really big - although it's a 5th floor walk-up so dragging my bag up all those stairs nearly gave me a heart attack! but now i'm here i only need to worry about getting my bag back down again.
thursday was spent doing laundry (yawn!) and having a potter around the neighbourhood... some places are the same, some have changed and some have gone altogether. in the evening i met up with robin and we had a lovely italian dinner together. so great to see her and catch up on the last year and a bit. she always makes me feel good about myself - unfortunately, it never lasts very long...
today i went shopping!!! much as i loved sundance and park city - it's not a place for shopping, not that i had the time anyway! went up to target and old navy first - how disappointing... nothing to buy there... so went downtown and got loads of stuff! bought quite a bit in my favourite new york shop - brooklyn industries - then bought some new boots too... not sure where i'm gonna pack all this stuff as my case is already busting at the seams.
i tried to go to a film - but missed the showing of 'inside llewyn davis' and then when i went back to see 'wolf of wall street' it was sold out... wtf! i know i've seen a lot of films just recently, but really... i can't get to see a film in new york city?!?!?! so i went and bought nice food in wholefoods and came back to my room and watch old re-runs of 'frasier' and 'the golden girls' - back to the 80s!!!
can't believe this trip is nearly over... boo!
Wednesday, 29 January 2014
the end of sundance
i have left the sundance bubble! managed to get a lift back down to salt lake city with one of my room-mates - matt - who drove all the way to park city from ohio (that's a really long way!) and he's heading back to ohio, but taking a different route… anyway, he gave 3 of us a lift, the others were going to the airport to catch their flights home, but i had a free day in salt lake so we went and ate our own body-weight in food at a great mexican place called 'red iguana' that my boss at hodder had recommended to me before i left london. matt had eaten there before so we spent a good few hours eating and chatting then we went for a wander around the city, to the church, the tabernacle, the state capital building - the sun was going down and the smog was sitting over the city with the mountains all around - a pretty amazing sight! i'd left my camera in matt's car and then when he dropped me off at my hotel - i forgot to pick it up… what an idiot!!! i'm about to go on possibly one of the most beautiful train journeys in the whole world without a camera… and don't forget - my cell phone is also broken… i really could kick myself sometimes!
so i managed to shoehorn myself out of my cosy hotel bed in the middle of the night to catch the train from salt lake city to denver at 3.30am. i got on and pretty much went to sleep again straight away, but i woke around 7.30am to a beautiful golden pink sunrise in a long strip of cloud that stretched along the sky in the same direction as the train. so glad that i managed to see that!
utah is real cowboy country - lots of red rocks in amazing formations reminded me of a hundred different western films - the only place that i've been that is similar is the grand canyon. the train stops at a little town called 'grand junction' which has just the loveliest little old-fashioned station building - complete with gorgeous victorian-style lettering - sadly falling into disrepair - i think they should renovate it and use it for films!
the train travels through colorado and it is spectacularly beautiful, the colorado river runs alongside the train to my left. we've just passed an area where the hot springs run out into the river making it steam, but then moments further on there are big chunks of ice in the river. the mountains are patched with snow and a few trees and the sky is crystal blue with no clouds. the air is clean and clear and dry without a breath of wind - it really is breathtaking. there are many places where the river is completely iced over - there are little animal/bird footprints crossing this way and that - although i don't think i would step out onto that ice! i've seen farmed cows and alpacas, wild deer and 3 eagles soaring over the mountains when we came through the gore canyon. i'd love to see a bear - but they're probably hibernating right now…
suddenly the train is right on the edge of the rocky mountains and the flat plains of central usa are spread out before us - it's an incredible sight, the sky is a rainbow of sunset colours and denver is where we are headed. it's so strange how the mountains just stop and the plains begin… beautiful, just beautiful… the train has been pretty slow - 15 hours, but i haven't minded at all. it has been so great to have nothing to do for a few hours!
which leads me back to the last 10 days of sundance… i was unable to post up on the blog because i just didn't have time i'm afraid - it was all a bit of a whirlwind and it felt very strange to leave the mountain tops and come back down into the real world again! i can't remember what i wrote in the last blog post - but i think it was a bit of a rushed explanation of the first couple of days in park city. i can't get on the internet right now as there is no wifi on amtrak (they really need to sort that out!) so, i'm writing this and will post it up when i get to denver. i arrive around 6.40pm and think i will just go straight to my hotel and go to sleep! i fly out to new york tomorrow morning - i'm excited to be going back (and with much more sensible, warm clothes this time!!!)
actually, i'm now on the plane from denver to nyc - and i couldn't get the internet to work in my hotel last night either… grrrr! will finally post up this extremely long post when i get to nyc…
so, let's talk about films for a bit… i managed to see 15 in all - most in my limited spare time and a few while i was on shift - we could only do this if there were spare seats available after all the paying customers are in - eccles is a big theatre (1,267 seats) and for most of our screenings we were full. i have updated my imdb list with all the films i saw and i've rated them out of 10 - so have a look at that if you're a film fan!
to be honest, the first couple of days i really didn't see anything that really blew me away and i did start to think that i wasn't going to see anything brilliant… however, the last couple of days really made up for it as i saw quite a few that were really very good.
i'm gonna go through them briefly:
14/01/14 - the overnighters - a documentary about a pastor in north dakota who helps guys who come looking for work in the fracking industry that has sprung up there. this was a strange one, as there was a twist towards the end which kind of made me question all the stuff that had come before - it was ok.
16/01/14 - dinosaur 13 - we slipped into this one while on shift, so we missed the beginning and the director q+a afterwards. despite that, this was a fascinating documentary about a team who find a fairly complete t-rex skeleton and set about removing it from the hill where they found it so they can study it and show it in their town. however the government gets involved over the rights of the land and it all gets very messy and one of the team ends up in jail. interesting stuff!
17/01/14 - laggies - i really liked this quirky, sweet rom-com starring keira knightley, sam rockwell and chloe moretz - i reckon this one will get a release at home. it's a different kind of role for keira and she's really good in it. the director, the three lead cast members and various crew were there to do a q+a after the screening. after that, matt (one of my room-mates) and i went down the back corridor pretending to be on duty and it just happened to coincide with sam rockwell and crew coming out of the back door. my heart was about to jump out of my chest - i'm a bit in love with him and he is super-cool! we made eye contact but i was too embarrassed to smile or anything to we hung around for a bit until they left - probably to go some cool party! i think i went home and went to bed… not very rock'n'roll!
19/01/14 - young ones - this was on my list of films to see and i loved it… it's set in a dystopian future where water is heavily controlled but petrol and alcohol are not. it's not really that futuristic - it's set out in a dry country area and is the story of a family who are trying to get some water to irrigate their land so they can grow crops. it's divided into three sections - following the father, the daughter's boyfriend and the son. it's different in both the story and the way it's shot. i'd like to see this one again really - it's got a great story...
19/01/14 calvary - this is the second film by the director of 'the guard' - it's funny but pretty dark - i liked it. it stars the wonderful and hugely under-rated brendan gleeson, who unfortunately wasn't there for the q+a but chris o'dowd, who also stars, was. it's the story of an irish priest who is threatened by one of his parishioners. after the screening i was going down to the volunteers room which is also where the talent comes out through the side door to the theatre - i used the loo down there and it just happened to be when kelly reilly (who also stars) was using it - so we chatted for a bit while we washed our hands!
21/01/14 - hellion - an american coming of age tale with a wonderfully intense performance by a young actor called josh wiggins. it also stars aaron paul from breaking bad… although he's unrecognisable from his character in that, and juliette lewis who i haven't seen in a film for a long time. really liked this one - sad but powerful.
21/01/14 - the raid 2 - we got to go this film as we'd been outside all afternoon and into the evening and we were freezing cold! i probably wouldn't have chosen this film especially since i haven't seen the first one. it was seriously violent, eye-gouging, bone-cracking, gory fun! pretty full-on with lots of crazy stunts and about a million different ways to kill or maim. gorgeous young cast who were all there at the screening - probably the sharpest dressed people i saw throughout the whole festival - no snow-boots or thermals for them! as we were walking back down the corridor to get our stuff from the volunteer room the whole cast were coming the other way - i couldn't help but smile at them all - they all looked so sweet and innocent despite having just seen them rip arms and legs off in the movie! walking behind the main group alone was the star and i just gave him a big grin, and he grinned right back at me - it made my night!
22/01/14 - love child - i probably wouldn't have picked this film either but it was showing at the lovely, old-fashioned egyptian theatre on main street and i hadn't managed to get tickets for another film i wanted to see at the MARC theatre, so i went downtown to see it. such a shame really as the subject matter was so interesting, a documentary about a young korean couple who were so addicted to online gaming they neglected their own child who ended up dying of malnutrition, but the editing of the film just didn't really work for me - it should have been tighter and less repetitive.
23/01/14 - fishing without nets - ok, i have to admit that by this time in the festival i was seriously tired and feeling pretty burnt-out. i really wanted to see this film, but when the lights went down my eyelids started to droop and i ended up having many micro-sleeps through the first half until i found some sweets in my bag which managed to keep me awake through the second half. an interesting story about a naive young somali father who becomes a pirate to raise money for his family. i don't feel able to comment further on this one as i wasn't able to give it my full attention… my fault not the film's!
24/01/14 - jamie marks is dead - another one we got to watch while on-shift. a bit spooky for my liking - i did spend some time hiding behind my coat! an odd film about an unpopular kid who is found dead but he appears to two of his school mates who form a bond with him… ok, i'm finding it really difficult to describe this one… it was a bit slow and not spooky enough to be horror and i'm not sure quite who it would appeal to - not sure whether this one will get a release at home.
24/01/14 - rudderless - ok, now we're talking! this was great! fab performances, mainly from billy crudup and adam yeltchin. i don't want to give out too much of the story as it would be a spoiler alert! needless to say, this is a story about a family crisis that has long term affects on the father and just when he starts to get his life back together, things take an unexpected turn. directed by william h macy, who received a standing ovation on the premier screening that i attended, it's funny and very sad but best of all it tells the story from a different perspective - which is always a good thing in film and doesn't happen often enough!
25/01/14 - god's pocket - the one philip seymour hoffman film i got to see out of the two he had in the festival. this is based on book about a small area of urban philadelphia in the 1970's. it's difficult to describe but is another film about a crisis within a family which has far-reaching consequences. philip seymour hoffman again shows that he is one of the best actors of his generation and it was nice to see eddie marsan in there too - always good to see a british actor holding their own with the americans!
25/01/14 - the one i love - what can i say… this one has mark duplass in it and since he is part of the reason why i was at sundance to begin with (see 'safety not guaranteed'). he just doesn't ever pick a bad movie to be in… he deserves to be way more famous than he is now - he's just brilliant! a great little story about a couple haivng problems with their relationship who go away to a beautiful deserted retreat where things get pretty weird. it's clever and funny and strange - a great combination!
25/01/14 - whiplash - wow! this one is super-intense. a fairly simple story about a young jazz drumming student at a music conservatory in new york who is picked out by a mentor/teacher who makes his life hell. fabulous jazz soundtrack and great performances by the 2 lead actors - this film won two awards in the festival and pretty much every screening we did was a sell-out and nearly everyone loved it. a must see if it comes out in uk.
26/01/14 - alive inside - this film is a joy! a documentary about elderly people with alzheimer's or other debilitating diseases who find release in the music they loved when they were younger. this film will make you laugh and cry simultaneously. it won an audience award and it bloody well deserved it. you will never regret seeing this film.
over and out for now… will be back in touch when i get to nyc...
so i managed to shoehorn myself out of my cosy hotel bed in the middle of the night to catch the train from salt lake city to denver at 3.30am. i got on and pretty much went to sleep again straight away, but i woke around 7.30am to a beautiful golden pink sunrise in a long strip of cloud that stretched along the sky in the same direction as the train. so glad that i managed to see that!
utah is real cowboy country - lots of red rocks in amazing formations reminded me of a hundred different western films - the only place that i've been that is similar is the grand canyon. the train stops at a little town called 'grand junction' which has just the loveliest little old-fashioned station building - complete with gorgeous victorian-style lettering - sadly falling into disrepair - i think they should renovate it and use it for films!
the train travels through colorado and it is spectacularly beautiful, the colorado river runs alongside the train to my left. we've just passed an area where the hot springs run out into the river making it steam, but then moments further on there are big chunks of ice in the river. the mountains are patched with snow and a few trees and the sky is crystal blue with no clouds. the air is clean and clear and dry without a breath of wind - it really is breathtaking. there are many places where the river is completely iced over - there are little animal/bird footprints crossing this way and that - although i don't think i would step out onto that ice! i've seen farmed cows and alpacas, wild deer and 3 eagles soaring over the mountains when we came through the gore canyon. i'd love to see a bear - but they're probably hibernating right now…
suddenly the train is right on the edge of the rocky mountains and the flat plains of central usa are spread out before us - it's an incredible sight, the sky is a rainbow of sunset colours and denver is where we are headed. it's so strange how the mountains just stop and the plains begin… beautiful, just beautiful… the train has been pretty slow - 15 hours, but i haven't minded at all. it has been so great to have nothing to do for a few hours!
which leads me back to the last 10 days of sundance… i was unable to post up on the blog because i just didn't have time i'm afraid - it was all a bit of a whirlwind and it felt very strange to leave the mountain tops and come back down into the real world again! i can't remember what i wrote in the last blog post - but i think it was a bit of a rushed explanation of the first couple of days in park city. i can't get on the internet right now as there is no wifi on amtrak (they really need to sort that out!) so, i'm writing this and will post it up when i get to denver. i arrive around 6.40pm and think i will just go straight to my hotel and go to sleep! i fly out to new york tomorrow morning - i'm excited to be going back (and with much more sensible, warm clothes this time!!!)
actually, i'm now on the plane from denver to nyc - and i couldn't get the internet to work in my hotel last night either… grrrr! will finally post up this extremely long post when i get to nyc…
so, let's talk about films for a bit… i managed to see 15 in all - most in my limited spare time and a few while i was on shift - we could only do this if there were spare seats available after all the paying customers are in - eccles is a big theatre (1,267 seats) and for most of our screenings we were full. i have updated my imdb list with all the films i saw and i've rated them out of 10 - so have a look at that if you're a film fan!
to be honest, the first couple of days i really didn't see anything that really blew me away and i did start to think that i wasn't going to see anything brilliant… however, the last couple of days really made up for it as i saw quite a few that were really very good.
i'm gonna go through them briefly:
14/01/14 - the overnighters - a documentary about a pastor in north dakota who helps guys who come looking for work in the fracking industry that has sprung up there. this was a strange one, as there was a twist towards the end which kind of made me question all the stuff that had come before - it was ok.
16/01/14 - dinosaur 13 - we slipped into this one while on shift, so we missed the beginning and the director q+a afterwards. despite that, this was a fascinating documentary about a team who find a fairly complete t-rex skeleton and set about removing it from the hill where they found it so they can study it and show it in their town. however the government gets involved over the rights of the land and it all gets very messy and one of the team ends up in jail. interesting stuff!
17/01/14 - laggies - i really liked this quirky, sweet rom-com starring keira knightley, sam rockwell and chloe moretz - i reckon this one will get a release at home. it's a different kind of role for keira and she's really good in it. the director, the three lead cast members and various crew were there to do a q+a after the screening. after that, matt (one of my room-mates) and i went down the back corridor pretending to be on duty and it just happened to coincide with sam rockwell and crew coming out of the back door. my heart was about to jump out of my chest - i'm a bit in love with him and he is super-cool! we made eye contact but i was too embarrassed to smile or anything to we hung around for a bit until they left - probably to go some cool party! i think i went home and went to bed… not very rock'n'roll!
19/01/14 - young ones - this was on my list of films to see and i loved it… it's set in a dystopian future where water is heavily controlled but petrol and alcohol are not. it's not really that futuristic - it's set out in a dry country area and is the story of a family who are trying to get some water to irrigate their land so they can grow crops. it's divided into three sections - following the father, the daughter's boyfriend and the son. it's different in both the story and the way it's shot. i'd like to see this one again really - it's got a great story...
19/01/14 calvary - this is the second film by the director of 'the guard' - it's funny but pretty dark - i liked it. it stars the wonderful and hugely under-rated brendan gleeson, who unfortunately wasn't there for the q+a but chris o'dowd, who also stars, was. it's the story of an irish priest who is threatened by one of his parishioners. after the screening i was going down to the volunteers room which is also where the talent comes out through the side door to the theatre - i used the loo down there and it just happened to be when kelly reilly (who also stars) was using it - so we chatted for a bit while we washed our hands!
21/01/14 - hellion - an american coming of age tale with a wonderfully intense performance by a young actor called josh wiggins. it also stars aaron paul from breaking bad… although he's unrecognisable from his character in that, and juliette lewis who i haven't seen in a film for a long time. really liked this one - sad but powerful.
21/01/14 - the raid 2 - we got to go this film as we'd been outside all afternoon and into the evening and we were freezing cold! i probably wouldn't have chosen this film especially since i haven't seen the first one. it was seriously violent, eye-gouging, bone-cracking, gory fun! pretty full-on with lots of crazy stunts and about a million different ways to kill or maim. gorgeous young cast who were all there at the screening - probably the sharpest dressed people i saw throughout the whole festival - no snow-boots or thermals for them! as we were walking back down the corridor to get our stuff from the volunteer room the whole cast were coming the other way - i couldn't help but smile at them all - they all looked so sweet and innocent despite having just seen them rip arms and legs off in the movie! walking behind the main group alone was the star and i just gave him a big grin, and he grinned right back at me - it made my night!
22/01/14 - love child - i probably wouldn't have picked this film either but it was showing at the lovely, old-fashioned egyptian theatre on main street and i hadn't managed to get tickets for another film i wanted to see at the MARC theatre, so i went downtown to see it. such a shame really as the subject matter was so interesting, a documentary about a young korean couple who were so addicted to online gaming they neglected their own child who ended up dying of malnutrition, but the editing of the film just didn't really work for me - it should have been tighter and less repetitive.
23/01/14 - fishing without nets - ok, i have to admit that by this time in the festival i was seriously tired and feeling pretty burnt-out. i really wanted to see this film, but when the lights went down my eyelids started to droop and i ended up having many micro-sleeps through the first half until i found some sweets in my bag which managed to keep me awake through the second half. an interesting story about a naive young somali father who becomes a pirate to raise money for his family. i don't feel able to comment further on this one as i wasn't able to give it my full attention… my fault not the film's!
24/01/14 - jamie marks is dead - another one we got to watch while on-shift. a bit spooky for my liking - i did spend some time hiding behind my coat! an odd film about an unpopular kid who is found dead but he appears to two of his school mates who form a bond with him… ok, i'm finding it really difficult to describe this one… it was a bit slow and not spooky enough to be horror and i'm not sure quite who it would appeal to - not sure whether this one will get a release at home.
24/01/14 - rudderless - ok, now we're talking! this was great! fab performances, mainly from billy crudup and adam yeltchin. i don't want to give out too much of the story as it would be a spoiler alert! needless to say, this is a story about a family crisis that has long term affects on the father and just when he starts to get his life back together, things take an unexpected turn. directed by william h macy, who received a standing ovation on the premier screening that i attended, it's funny and very sad but best of all it tells the story from a different perspective - which is always a good thing in film and doesn't happen often enough!
25/01/14 - god's pocket - the one philip seymour hoffman film i got to see out of the two he had in the festival. this is based on book about a small area of urban philadelphia in the 1970's. it's difficult to describe but is another film about a crisis within a family which has far-reaching consequences. philip seymour hoffman again shows that he is one of the best actors of his generation and it was nice to see eddie marsan in there too - always good to see a british actor holding their own with the americans!
25/01/14 - the one i love - what can i say… this one has mark duplass in it and since he is part of the reason why i was at sundance to begin with (see 'safety not guaranteed'). he just doesn't ever pick a bad movie to be in… he deserves to be way more famous than he is now - he's just brilliant! a great little story about a couple haivng problems with their relationship who go away to a beautiful deserted retreat where things get pretty weird. it's clever and funny and strange - a great combination!
25/01/14 - whiplash - wow! this one is super-intense. a fairly simple story about a young jazz drumming student at a music conservatory in new york who is picked out by a mentor/teacher who makes his life hell. fabulous jazz soundtrack and great performances by the 2 lead actors - this film won two awards in the festival and pretty much every screening we did was a sell-out and nearly everyone loved it. a must see if it comes out in uk.
26/01/14 - alive inside - this film is a joy! a documentary about elderly people with alzheimer's or other debilitating diseases who find release in the music they loved when they were younger. this film will make you laugh and cry simultaneously. it won an audience award and it bloody well deserved it. you will never regret seeing this film.
over and out for now… will be back in touch when i get to nyc...
Monday, 20 January 2014
too busy to post!!!
hey all
i literally have about 10 minutes while my phone charges before i'm heading out to get down to main street to see what's going on and get some of the tons of free stuff that all my roomates seem to be getting down there!
this is the first morning i've had free, having spent the last 3 days doing the morning shift - from 7.30am - 4.30pm - so freakin tired i can't even explain!
have managed to see 5 films so far, 'the overnighters', 'dinosaur 13', 'laggies', 'young ones' and 'calvary' - my favourite so far is probably 'young ones'.
there are A LOT of famous people here!!! i chatted to kelly reilly in the ladies room yesterday - she was in 'calvary' and was really nice! robert redford walked right past me yesterday. i think i might have actually talked to mark ruffalo the other day... but didn't recognise him - now i'm not sure if it was him - i just know he was there for a special event...
stars in our theatre have been kristen stewart, philip seymour hoffman, elle fanning, nicholas hoult, rachel macadam and apparently bradley cooper turned up yesterday - not in a movie just a regular punter - but i was told he was incognito - hat, shades, etc. needless to say i didn't see any of these people - apart from elle fanning's back... i am out front of the theatre and most of the stars come in and go out of the back door...
having an amazing time - but tired and just don't feel very on-it!
laters
vx
i literally have about 10 minutes while my phone charges before i'm heading out to get down to main street to see what's going on and get some of the tons of free stuff that all my roomates seem to be getting down there!
this is the first morning i've had free, having spent the last 3 days doing the morning shift - from 7.30am - 4.30pm - so freakin tired i can't even explain!
have managed to see 5 films so far, 'the overnighters', 'dinosaur 13', 'laggies', 'young ones' and 'calvary' - my favourite so far is probably 'young ones'.
there are A LOT of famous people here!!! i chatted to kelly reilly in the ladies room yesterday - she was in 'calvary' and was really nice! robert redford walked right past me yesterday. i think i might have actually talked to mark ruffalo the other day... but didn't recognise him - now i'm not sure if it was him - i just know he was there for a special event...
stars in our theatre have been kristen stewart, philip seymour hoffman, elle fanning, nicholas hoult, rachel macadam and apparently bradley cooper turned up yesterday - not in a movie just a regular punter - but i was told he was incognito - hat, shades, etc. needless to say i didn't see any of these people - apart from elle fanning's back... i am out front of the theatre and most of the stars come in and go out of the back door...
having an amazing time - but tired and just don't feel very on-it!
laters
vx
Thursday, 16 January 2014
altitude sickness
not feeling too good to be honest... feel sick, headache, very wobbly... but hey! i'm here at sundance - i'll get over it!
so, i have been slobbing about for the last few days, drinking, chatting and generally sitting on buses going the wrong way round park city.
it's snowy and cold, but glorious blue skies and sun - and it's lovely and warm when the sun's out. pretty cold in the evenings though... i have done a couple of bits of 'training' mostly common sense if i'm being honest - but then crisis dependency centre gives you some general training that you're never going to get anywhere else!!!
i finally made it downtown yesterday - and main street is a traditional small american town street... the rest of park city is quite different. as with all american towns, everything is really spread out - don't know what we'd all do if there weren't free buses to take us around.
so, i'm working at the eccles theatre - it's the biggest cinema in park city (1267 seats), and it's part of a school! lots of the venues here are used for other things the rest of the year. the library which is just up the road from the apartment is actually a library usually, but it has a decent sized screening room - the volunteer screening that i went to on tuesday night was there. the film was a doc called 'the overnighters'. i think my favourite venue is the egyptian - such a cute old-fashioned cinema downtown - see pics...
in about an hour i'll be heading over to eccles for this evenings shift - from 3.30pm to midnight and there'll be two films tonight - 'whiplash' and 'dinosaur 13' but i won't get to see them tonight... i'm going to get my thermals out as i might be outside and it's gonna get cold!
there are 8 of us in the apartment... pretty diverse mix - michelle is from near cambridge, juan is from chicago, dan and cecilia are from philadelphia, matt is from ohio, elicia is from southern california and lebene is ghanian, but living in seattle. they all drink more than me (but you know i'm a total lightweight) but i'm trying to keep the british end up!!!
our apartment
view left up the mountain
straight ahead
view to the right
the egyptian theatre
cool sign
inside eccles theatre
elicia and jo at eccles training
so, i have been slobbing about for the last few days, drinking, chatting and generally sitting on buses going the wrong way round park city.
it's snowy and cold, but glorious blue skies and sun - and it's lovely and warm when the sun's out. pretty cold in the evenings though... i have done a couple of bits of 'training' mostly common sense if i'm being honest - but then crisis dependency centre gives you some general training that you're never going to get anywhere else!!!
i finally made it downtown yesterday - and main street is a traditional small american town street... the rest of park city is quite different. as with all american towns, everything is really spread out - don't know what we'd all do if there weren't free buses to take us around.
so, i'm working at the eccles theatre - it's the biggest cinema in park city (1267 seats), and it's part of a school! lots of the venues here are used for other things the rest of the year. the library which is just up the road from the apartment is actually a library usually, but it has a decent sized screening room - the volunteer screening that i went to on tuesday night was there. the film was a doc called 'the overnighters'. i think my favourite venue is the egyptian - such a cute old-fashioned cinema downtown - see pics...
in about an hour i'll be heading over to eccles for this evenings shift - from 3.30pm to midnight and there'll be two films tonight - 'whiplash' and 'dinosaur 13' but i won't get to see them tonight... i'm going to get my thermals out as i might be outside and it's gonna get cold!
there are 8 of us in the apartment... pretty diverse mix - michelle is from near cambridge, juan is from chicago, dan and cecilia are from philadelphia, matt is from ohio, elicia is from southern california and lebene is ghanian, but living in seattle. they all drink more than me (but you know i'm a total lightweight) but i'm trying to keep the british end up!!!
our apartment
view left up the mountain
straight ahead
view to the right
the egyptian theatre
cool sign
inside eccles theatre
elicia and jo at eccles training
Monday, 13 January 2014
back in the USA
howdy!
i am back... but not in new york this time... on this trip i'm over in park city, utah for the sundance film festival. i'm volunteering for all 10 days, 16-26 january - but after that i will be going to new york for about 4 days - how could i possibly come to america and not spend a bit of time in my second home?
so, i should just apologise for the crappy blogging on my last trip in 2012 - i got really sick and stopped posting up on the blog as i had pneumonia (but didn't know it)! i don't even remember getting home - so forgive me - i will try not to get sick on this trip!
i left home yesterday morning at around 8.30am for a 12.50 flight - i then had an 8.5 hour flight, followed by a 3 hour layover in new york, then another 4.5 hour flight to salt lake city... that's about 20 hours of travelling - i was a total zombie when i got to my hotel!
when i woke up this morning there were snow-covered mountains all around me! i was going to go into salt lake city but when i got back to the airport i found that there was nowhere to leave my suitcase, so i changed my plan and came straight up to park city. beautiful drive up through the mountains, but only about half an hour away from salt lake city. i found the apartment complex and managed to get in to the apartment but couldn't lock the door, so i was stuck in the apartment until some of the others came back, which meant i could go out to the supermarket and get some milk so i could finally have a cup of tea!!!
the apartment is huge, a bit 70s stylee (everything is brown) but it's really cosy and my room is vast!
tomorrow i'm going to have a proper look around park city... more news then!
i am back... but not in new york this time... on this trip i'm over in park city, utah for the sundance film festival. i'm volunteering for all 10 days, 16-26 january - but after that i will be going to new york for about 4 days - how could i possibly come to america and not spend a bit of time in my second home?
so, i should just apologise for the crappy blogging on my last trip in 2012 - i got really sick and stopped posting up on the blog as i had pneumonia (but didn't know it)! i don't even remember getting home - so forgive me - i will try not to get sick on this trip!
i left home yesterday morning at around 8.30am for a 12.50 flight - i then had an 8.5 hour flight, followed by a 3 hour layover in new york, then another 4.5 hour flight to salt lake city... that's about 20 hours of travelling - i was a total zombie when i got to my hotel!
when i woke up this morning there were snow-covered mountains all around me! i was going to go into salt lake city but when i got back to the airport i found that there was nowhere to leave my suitcase, so i changed my plan and came straight up to park city. beautiful drive up through the mountains, but only about half an hour away from salt lake city. i found the apartment complex and managed to get in to the apartment but couldn't lock the door, so i was stuck in the apartment until some of the others came back, which meant i could go out to the supermarket and get some milk so i could finally have a cup of tea!!!
the apartment is huge, a bit 70s stylee (everything is brown) but it's really cosy and my room is vast!
tomorrow i'm going to have a proper look around park city... more news then!
Tuesday, 6 November 2012
Sunday, 4 November 2012
boston back to new york
woke up to a glorious sunny morning in boston. stayed in bed in my nest of pillows for as long as possible then checked out of my lovely fancy hotel and decided to do the rest of the freedom trail as it was such a nice day. that was until i got to the scary bridge... beautiful blue sky, gorgeous blue water, bright shiny city, bridge made of metal mesh stuff - which you can see the gorgeous blue water through... so i totally bailed out - what a wimp! it really gives me the heeby-jeebies - i do not like to see water miles below rusty metal grating that i'm walking on... so, sorry but i didn't get to charlestown - i'm sure it's lovely though...
tried to go to a little printing museum where they printed the declaration of independence but annoyingly it closed at the end of october so i missed it by a day - grrrr! so i mooched about boston and came across a fabulous second hand bookshop called brattle book shop where i spent a happy hour or so. the shop has a vacant lot next to it and it was full of bookshelves filled with second hand books - bliss! i bought michael chabon's first book 'mysteries of pittsburgh' for a dollar and a book of grimms fairy tales illustrated by maurice sendak for 3 dollars - bargain!
went back to the hotel to pick up my bags and headed off to the bus - dreading it a bit but it was much better on the way back - phew! and we didn't get stuck in traffic so we got back on time. nice to see the power back on in downtown new york too! took the bus uptown back to the apartment and had a catch-up with sue, then off to bed...
today i did some laundry then went off to the new york historical society over on central park west where they have an exhibition of how world war two affected new york - phyllis has been included in this exhibition because of her radio show back in the 1940s which was a request show - phyllis would sing songs that were reqested by servicemen who would send letters to her, she was known as the 'canteen girl'. there were a couple of videos of her talking about her experiences on a video screen. i managed to record them both on my camera, but when i tried to record one of them again with the sound recording, a security guard came and told me off for recording, so i turned off my camera - but ha! i'd already recorded the videos - just without the sound...
then i headed downtown and finally, finally got a ticket for the imax screening of 'cloud atlas'. now, i think everyone knows how much i love love love the book and how worried i've been about the film and whether they're going to screw it up... well, the film is a bit different from the book but i LOVED it and i was very prepared to hate it! the film is a bit over-ambitious but it's a pretty ambitious project to start with! they don't pull everything off 100% but they've made an amazing film - great cast too - ben whishaw, jim broadbent and james d'arcy are particularly good.
can't believe my time here is nearly up... i'm gonna be home on thursday! eeek, i gotta fit in a lot more stuff to do...
tried to go to a little printing museum where they printed the declaration of independence but annoyingly it closed at the end of october so i missed it by a day - grrrr! so i mooched about boston and came across a fabulous second hand bookshop called brattle book shop where i spent a happy hour or so. the shop has a vacant lot next to it and it was full of bookshelves filled with second hand books - bliss! i bought michael chabon's first book 'mysteries of pittsburgh' for a dollar and a book of grimms fairy tales illustrated by maurice sendak for 3 dollars - bargain!
went back to the hotel to pick up my bags and headed off to the bus - dreading it a bit but it was much better on the way back - phew! and we didn't get stuck in traffic so we got back on time. nice to see the power back on in downtown new york too! took the bus uptown back to the apartment and had a catch-up with sue, then off to bed...
today i did some laundry then went off to the new york historical society over on central park west where they have an exhibition of how world war two affected new york - phyllis has been included in this exhibition because of her radio show back in the 1940s which was a request show - phyllis would sing songs that were reqested by servicemen who would send letters to her, she was known as the 'canteen girl'. there were a couple of videos of her talking about her experiences on a video screen. i managed to record them both on my camera, but when i tried to record one of them again with the sound recording, a security guard came and told me off for recording, so i turned off my camera - but ha! i'd already recorded the videos - just without the sound...
then i headed downtown and finally, finally got a ticket for the imax screening of 'cloud atlas'. now, i think everyone knows how much i love love love the book and how worried i've been about the film and whether they're going to screw it up... well, the film is a bit different from the book but i LOVED it and i was very prepared to hate it! the film is a bit over-ambitious but it's a pretty ambitious project to start with! they don't pull everything off 100% but they've made an amazing film - great cast too - ben whishaw, jim broadbent and james d'arcy are particularly good.
can't believe my time here is nearly up... i'm gonna be home on thursday! eeek, i gotta fit in a lot more stuff to do...
Friday, 2 November 2012
rainy boston
woke up in my lovely squishy hotel bed (do you think they'd notice if i nicked one of the pillows?) and then walked down to the start of the 'freedom trail' which is a path through the city stopping off at all the historical places of interest. i started on the freedom trail but i got about halfway before it started raining so i gave up and went shopping instead! but i did learn vaguely who paul revere was - up until now he's just been a lyric in a beastie boys song - who knew!
walked down to the beautiful boston opera house to go to the ballet this evening. i'd been trying to book a ticket online but the site didn't work and when i got to the box office all their computers were down - so they were only selling $20 tickets - so i bought one of those and went up to the circle and got a pretty good seat. the ballet was a mixed programme and the first section was called 'rooster' and it was set to 8 rolling stones songs and i loved it! the next two pieces were ok, very contemporary which isn't my favourite kind of ballet, but i really enjoyed it - i hope my horrendous cough didn't annoy anyone too much!!!
right, i've got most of tomorrow here in boston, then i've got to get back on the awful bus back to new york... god knows what time i'll get back to the apartment...
walked down to the beautiful boston opera house to go to the ballet this evening. i'd been trying to book a ticket online but the site didn't work and when i got to the box office all their computers were down - so they were only selling $20 tickets - so i bought one of those and went up to the circle and got a pretty good seat. the ballet was a mixed programme and the first section was called 'rooster' and it was set to 8 rolling stones songs and i loved it! the next two pieces were ok, very contemporary which isn't my favourite kind of ballet, but i really enjoyed it - i hope my horrendous cough didn't annoy anyone too much!!!
right, i've got most of tomorrow here in boston, then i've got to get back on the awful bus back to new york... god knows what time i'll get back to the apartment...
Thursday, 1 November 2012
sandy's doing my head in, so have gone to boston...
phew! hate to say this but it's nice to be away from my beloved new york city for a few days! bit fed up with the hurricane sandy aftermath - i feel for all the new yorkers who have to deal with it, but i'm supposed to be on holiday! so, i've gone on holiday!
few more bits from the last few days:
friday - the day of the yorkville masked ball, which is a big fundraising event for search & care. all the rich types from the upper east side get properly dressed up (and i mean properly - gorgeous frocks for the gals, dinner suits for the guys - masks for both - and pay a lot of money for tickets to go down to an old-school english style gentlemen's club and get smashed at a free bar. i was there helping out but it was fun and we could take advantage of the free bar too - yes, i did have a couple of glasses of champagne - would have been rude not to! i spent most of the evening greeting people coming in and directing them to where to check-in for their tickets. so i got to see what everyone was wearing... perfect job for me! earlier in the day i had to go down to the garment district to pick up some fancy jewellery and silk scarves that had been donated for the silent auction - so it was a busy day!
saturday - late start this morning due to last night's festivities. went off to do some laundry (oh, my rock n roll lifestyle!) then went off up to target in harlem for a spot of shopping, then i had been invited to dinner at phyllis's apartment so i headed back over there and had dinner with phyllis. i took my laptop as i'd asked her if i could make a copy of a cd that she has with some of her radio shows from the 1940s, so we listened to them and now i've got them on my laptop - hurrah! she sounds so different on the shows and her singing is just lovely.
sunday - went over to williamsburg to do a bit of shopping and hang out, but it was all cut short as i found out that the subways and buses were shutting down because of the impending hurricane - boo! i didn't buy much, but did manage to get a gorgeous little blue cashmere cardy for £10 from a vintage store - nice! lots more lovely vintage shops there this year than in 2010. got home to find everything closing, including the movie theatres... double boo!!!
monday - under house arrest, sandy on it's way - very windy, a bit rainy, but not cold at all. i went out for walk around the block and nearly got blown away, was pretty scary. but the apartment where i'm staying is really sheltered so it pretty much passed me by. but the tv news went on and on - i had to end up turning it over as it was getting depressing... the day passed and i think i was mainly in a semi-coma.
tuesday - phew! sandy's passed through new york, leaving a lot of devastation in lower manhattan and new jersey. have been very lucky being up at east 88th street as there have been a few trees blown down, but we escaped the really bad stuff. everything starting to open up too - hurrah!!! robin came over and bought us some lunch and coffee - she always cheers me up! later on i ventured out as i was getting severe cabin fever being indoors... ventured out later to finally see a film - it was worth it too, saw 'seven psychopaths' which was brilliant - great cast; sam rockwell, colin farrell, christopher walken and written/directed by martin mcdonagh - he did 'in bruges'
wednesday - ok, new york is kind of back in business. i had a busy day today, went to visit lovely elona this morning - so great to see her again - we chatted for hours and i wish i could see her regularly, she's so sweet. then i dashed over to moma to see some weird little short films about noise - bizarre but great - a film taken in the streets of new york in around 1920, a cartoon based on a dr seuss book called 'gerald mcboing boing' and a film about three bands who played at cbgbs back in 1977, the film had some live footage, but also had interviews with the fans and people at the club - it was brilliant and funny and it had the ramones in it so of course i was happy! then i went an spent some money in the moma shop which is always an expensive visit for me! then headed down to the imax to finally see 'the cloud atlas' but was very annoyed to find that it was sold out... grrr! i have to see that film while i'm still here! so headed home to find that the entire city seemed to be heading uptown - it was gridlocked on the roads and that was the only option as the subway still closed. i ended up walking about 10 blocks across town to find a bus that wasn't going to be stuck for hours. got home to find out that amtrak have cancelled my train to boston - how annoying!!!! so i have to shop around to find a bus to take me to boston - amtrak are refunding me my ticket cost and the bus is way cheaper - so i've saved myself around $100.
thursday - right, i have to get pretty far downtown this morning to catch my cheapo bus to boston... but the subway is only running to 42nd street - so i get off there and i'm very lucky to get straight on a bus going further south, but that stops at 23rd street. i wander about looking for a cab when another bus stops nearby which is going further down, so i get on it and hey presto! it only takes me to one block away from where i'm catching the bus - hurrah! so there's a massive queue which i just join and stand there for about an hour before we finally get loaded onto a crappy old bus - thank god i get a double seat without someone sitting next to me! it's suppposed to take around 4.5 hours but it took over 6 hours... finally get to boston and i'm too tired to walk to my hotel and i don't really know where it is so i just get in a cab. then it pulls up at this really fancy hotel - the oldest continuously running hotel in the whole of the US - or something like that! so, i've got a huge comfy bed and i was big and brave and went down to the really fancy restaurant and had a big yummy dinner - well, i missed out on lunch, only had a yogurt for breakfast and didn't have dinner last night either, so i figured i was due a proper dinner! and i had a famous boston cream pie - which apparently was invented at this very hotel! and oddly, it's not a pie, but more of a cake - anyway, it was lovely and then i came up to my lovely room and watched tv. right, off to bed...
few more bits from the last few days:
friday - the day of the yorkville masked ball, which is a big fundraising event for search & care. all the rich types from the upper east side get properly dressed up (and i mean properly - gorgeous frocks for the gals, dinner suits for the guys - masks for both - and pay a lot of money for tickets to go down to an old-school english style gentlemen's club and get smashed at a free bar. i was there helping out but it was fun and we could take advantage of the free bar too - yes, i did have a couple of glasses of champagne - would have been rude not to! i spent most of the evening greeting people coming in and directing them to where to check-in for their tickets. so i got to see what everyone was wearing... perfect job for me! earlier in the day i had to go down to the garment district to pick up some fancy jewellery and silk scarves that had been donated for the silent auction - so it was a busy day!
saturday - late start this morning due to last night's festivities. went off to do some laundry (oh, my rock n roll lifestyle!) then went off up to target in harlem for a spot of shopping, then i had been invited to dinner at phyllis's apartment so i headed back over there and had dinner with phyllis. i took my laptop as i'd asked her if i could make a copy of a cd that she has with some of her radio shows from the 1940s, so we listened to them and now i've got them on my laptop - hurrah! she sounds so different on the shows and her singing is just lovely.
sunday - went over to williamsburg to do a bit of shopping and hang out, but it was all cut short as i found out that the subways and buses were shutting down because of the impending hurricane - boo! i didn't buy much, but did manage to get a gorgeous little blue cashmere cardy for £10 from a vintage store - nice! lots more lovely vintage shops there this year than in 2010. got home to find everything closing, including the movie theatres... double boo!!!
monday - under house arrest, sandy on it's way - very windy, a bit rainy, but not cold at all. i went out for walk around the block and nearly got blown away, was pretty scary. but the apartment where i'm staying is really sheltered so it pretty much passed me by. but the tv news went on and on - i had to end up turning it over as it was getting depressing... the day passed and i think i was mainly in a semi-coma.
tuesday - phew! sandy's passed through new york, leaving a lot of devastation in lower manhattan and new jersey. have been very lucky being up at east 88th street as there have been a few trees blown down, but we escaped the really bad stuff. everything starting to open up too - hurrah!!! robin came over and bought us some lunch and coffee - she always cheers me up! later on i ventured out as i was getting severe cabin fever being indoors... ventured out later to finally see a film - it was worth it too, saw 'seven psychopaths' which was brilliant - great cast; sam rockwell, colin farrell, christopher walken and written/directed by martin mcdonagh - he did 'in bruges'
wednesday - ok, new york is kind of back in business. i had a busy day today, went to visit lovely elona this morning - so great to see her again - we chatted for hours and i wish i could see her regularly, she's so sweet. then i dashed over to moma to see some weird little short films about noise - bizarre but great - a film taken in the streets of new york in around 1920, a cartoon based on a dr seuss book called 'gerald mcboing boing' and a film about three bands who played at cbgbs back in 1977, the film had some live footage, but also had interviews with the fans and people at the club - it was brilliant and funny and it had the ramones in it so of course i was happy! then i went an spent some money in the moma shop which is always an expensive visit for me! then headed down to the imax to finally see 'the cloud atlas' but was very annoyed to find that it was sold out... grrr! i have to see that film while i'm still here! so headed home to find that the entire city seemed to be heading uptown - it was gridlocked on the roads and that was the only option as the subway still closed. i ended up walking about 10 blocks across town to find a bus that wasn't going to be stuck for hours. got home to find out that amtrak have cancelled my train to boston - how annoying!!!! so i have to shop around to find a bus to take me to boston - amtrak are refunding me my ticket cost and the bus is way cheaper - so i've saved myself around $100.
thursday - right, i have to get pretty far downtown this morning to catch my cheapo bus to boston... but the subway is only running to 42nd street - so i get off there and i'm very lucky to get straight on a bus going further south, but that stops at 23rd street. i wander about looking for a cab when another bus stops nearby which is going further down, so i get on it and hey presto! it only takes me to one block away from where i'm catching the bus - hurrah! so there's a massive queue which i just join and stand there for about an hour before we finally get loaded onto a crappy old bus - thank god i get a double seat without someone sitting next to me! it's suppposed to take around 4.5 hours but it took over 6 hours... finally get to boston and i'm too tired to walk to my hotel and i don't really know where it is so i just get in a cab. then it pulls up at this really fancy hotel - the oldest continuously running hotel in the whole of the US - or something like that! so, i've got a huge comfy bed and i was big and brave and went down to the really fancy restaurant and had a big yummy dinner - well, i missed out on lunch, only had a yogurt for breakfast and didn't have dinner last night either, so i figured i was due a proper dinner! and i had a famous boston cream pie - which apparently was invented at this very hotel! and oddly, it's not a pie, but more of a cake - anyway, it was lovely and then i came up to my lovely room and watched tv. right, off to bed...
Tuesday, 30 October 2012
a potted history of last week
well, as usual i've not been very good at getting round to writing this blog - i'm always happy when i've done it but despite being pretty much housebound for the last two days i still haven't written it! so i'm gonna try and catch up on a few days now:
tuesday: my first morning so i was up and about early and off for coffee and fresh blueberry pancakes - hurrah! spent the rest of the day hanging around in the neighbourhood and re-acquainting myself with the streets, shops, restaurants, cinemas, etc. sooo good to be back!
wednesday: popped down to the apple store in the morning to get a US plug for my laptop. after that i came back uptown to visit phyllis for the first time this trip. i prepared myself for her to have changed in the two years since i last saw her, but when she opened the door she looked just the same - still elegantly dressed and looking great. i spent about three and a half hours there - she's a bit down in the dumps about some dental work that she needs to have done but i tried to keep her off that subject and talk about happy stuff! felt a bit zombiefied after that so i went off get a burger at the shake shack and then went to see 'argo' at the movies. it was ok, great story but just told in a very formulaic way.
thursday: had lunch with robin at the office and saw some of the people who work at search & care, some who i knew and some new people too. then we jumped in a cab with lots of bags of cake and headed over to a church who donate their room to search & care for their 'vocal ease' concert. such a lovely sweet idea: 5 singers who do broadway numbers all come and give their time for free to sing lovely songs to the seniors and we serve them coffee and cake. apparently it's the busiest it's ever been and it was so busy we had to get more chairs! it was all 'que sera sera' and 'don't rain on my parade' it was brilliant and the clients really loved it. quite a few of my old clients were there; janice, matty (and her lovely carer judith), mary and phyllis was there too. it was my job to get phyllis home and we walked about 7 blocks back to her apartment - ok she had a walker, but she's 96 years old!!! we had a cup of tea and then i popped out to get her some soup for her dinner and then i headed back to the office to see robin. we headed back to our apartments (she lives just across the street from where i'm staying) and stopped in at a bar and had a beer and a quick dinner before heading home.
hey - that's three days of updates... not bad! i got a busy day tomorrow but will write more later...
tuesday: my first morning so i was up and about early and off for coffee and fresh blueberry pancakes - hurrah! spent the rest of the day hanging around in the neighbourhood and re-acquainting myself with the streets, shops, restaurants, cinemas, etc. sooo good to be back!
wednesday: popped down to the apple store in the morning to get a US plug for my laptop. after that i came back uptown to visit phyllis for the first time this trip. i prepared myself for her to have changed in the two years since i last saw her, but when she opened the door she looked just the same - still elegantly dressed and looking great. i spent about three and a half hours there - she's a bit down in the dumps about some dental work that she needs to have done but i tried to keep her off that subject and talk about happy stuff! felt a bit zombiefied after that so i went off get a burger at the shake shack and then went to see 'argo' at the movies. it was ok, great story but just told in a very formulaic way.
thursday: had lunch with robin at the office and saw some of the people who work at search & care, some who i knew and some new people too. then we jumped in a cab with lots of bags of cake and headed over to a church who donate their room to search & care for their 'vocal ease' concert. such a lovely sweet idea: 5 singers who do broadway numbers all come and give their time for free to sing lovely songs to the seniors and we serve them coffee and cake. apparently it's the busiest it's ever been and it was so busy we had to get more chairs! it was all 'que sera sera' and 'don't rain on my parade' it was brilliant and the clients really loved it. quite a few of my old clients were there; janice, matty (and her lovely carer judith), mary and phyllis was there too. it was my job to get phyllis home and we walked about 7 blocks back to her apartment - ok she had a walker, but she's 96 years old!!! we had a cup of tea and then i popped out to get her some soup for her dinner and then i headed back to the office to see robin. we headed back to our apartments (she lives just across the street from where i'm staying) and stopped in at a bar and had a beer and a quick dinner before heading home.
hey - that's three days of updates... not bad! i got a busy day tomorrow but will write more later...
Monday, 29 October 2012
back to last monday...
the big day finally dawned - i was going back to new york city - my second home! although my flight wasn't until 2pm i was still up at 7am as i still had my suitcase to pack! to be fair, there were piles of things around the case, just not in it... i decided to take my really big case this time - more room for my nyc purchases! i managed to leave on time - a miracle i know! - i took the bus up to manor house to catch the tube but as i was wheeling my bag into the tube station one of the outer bits of wheels falls off - but i persevere, the wheel is still there but the whole outer part has disintegrated - now it just makes a lot of noise as it's wheeling...
i must have looked particularly dodgy that day as i got a severe frisking twice by security, one at the regular security check and then again before i could get on the plane! the plane was really empty so before we took off i moved to a double seat and sat by the window - hurrah! the food was grim but i managed to fit in 3 films (brave, moonrise kingdom, madagascar 3) which helped pass the time.
we left late but made up time during the flight as we arrived on time. unfortunately the queue to clear passport control was ridiculously long - it took an hour and a half to get through, by that point i really was losing the will to live. i finally managed to pick up my now wonky and squeaky bag and wheeled off into the new york night... arrived at 86th street station - soooo exciting to be back - and a nice man carried my suitcase up the stairs at the station too - a good start!
i could feel myself walking faster and faster to sue's apartment - i was so looking forward to seeing robin again! after lots of squeaking and cuddling we went out for dinner to a new-ish thai place with sue where we had a big catch-up. robin left us and we went back to the apartment where i sensibly decided to go to bed - sooo tired!
i must have looked particularly dodgy that day as i got a severe frisking twice by security, one at the regular security check and then again before i could get on the plane! the plane was really empty so before we took off i moved to a double seat and sat by the window - hurrah! the food was grim but i managed to fit in 3 films (brave, moonrise kingdom, madagascar 3) which helped pass the time.
we left late but made up time during the flight as we arrived on time. unfortunately the queue to clear passport control was ridiculously long - it took an hour and a half to get through, by that point i really was losing the will to live. i finally managed to pick up my now wonky and squeaky bag and wheeled off into the new york night... arrived at 86th street station - soooo exciting to be back - and a nice man carried my suitcase up the stairs at the station too - a good start!
i could feel myself walking faster and faster to sue's apartment - i was so looking forward to seeing robin again! after lots of squeaking and cuddling we went out for dinner to a new-ish thai place with sue where we had a big catch-up. robin left us and we went back to the apartment where i sensibly decided to go to bed - sooo tired!
Sunday, 28 October 2012
i am back back back!
well, it seems that it has taken a hurricane to make me sit down and start writing a new blog post! i've been back in nyc for nearly a whole week now and despite promising to many people that i would resurrect this blog, i haven't written a bloody word!!! until now that is... so, before i start i would just like to say that i'm currently under house-arrest while we wait for a massive hurricane to engulf us and blow us all to bits. the shops are all closed, and most of the restaurants too, people have been queuing all day at the supermarkets for food and bottled water, but worst of all, they've only gone and closed all the cinemas too - oh, the horror! it seems that i better knuckle down and write this thing... right, let's go back and start at the beginning...
Sunday, 12 September 2010
this is the end...
these are gonna be my final posts...
i really need to cover the last couple of days in the usa as they were slightly fraught with problems and difficulties...
my last day in san francisco passed uneventfully, went and had a massive lunch at a cute diner then pottered around the city all day, bit of shopping, but what i was really looking for was a crazy little bookshop/museum that i found last time i was in the city, but couldn't remember its name or which area it was in - hmmm, not surprisingly, i didn't find it!
had contacted lovely chad via email, hoping to meet up with him for a drink before i left, but it all got too difficult, couldn't get through to his cell, etc. so it didn't happen. so i got an early night and sorted out my suitcase ready for the morning...
so i get up and get ready and off i go to the train which is supposed to take 30 minutes to get to the airport (well, it did last time...) and waited 30 minutes for a train. i got on the train which went one stop and then developed a fault and went out of service... another 30 minutes later and i'm on the train on the way - knowing in my heart that i've missed my plane to new york...
after freaking out and being told that i can't get another flight until 11.45pm (it was 11am) or pay for a direct flight for $800 - i get a grip and decide to stay with the airline i booked and they rearranged my flights at no extra charge, but it meant that i had to wait for 11 hours in the airport...
inertia set in but the time passed quickly enough i suppose. i read a lot of shantaram and did a bit of surfing... but i think i went into a semi-coma...
so i get on the first plane to milwaukee where i wait for around two hours before catching my connecting flight to newark - i really haven't had any sleep and time seems irrelevant
arrive at newark at around 11am and head over the hotel where zoe and i are staying but they wont let me in the room as i have no printed confirmation. so i throw a bit of strop, get out my laptop and show her the email... thank god she lets me up to the room where i throw myself onto the bed for 5 whole minutes, before jumping in the shower and getting ready to head into the city - which takes another 2 hours from newark...
head up to the meeting that had obviously finished hours before, but dinushka was there and so we had a bit of a catch-up and then i headed up to 86th street to pick up my other suitcase from robin's. i knew she wouldn't be there as she had a busy day planned at search and care - but i hoped that i might catch her. i spent a while around my old neighbourhood, couldn't bring myself to get on the subway away from my new home...
finally made it back to the hotel to find a note from zoe saying that she was in the bar with steve! went there but couldn't find them... went back to the room and re-read the note and then went back down and bumped into them coming out of the lift! a lot of cuddling later, we went back to the bar and i got some food and we had a bit of a catch-up. i fell into bed to the sounds of zoe sorting out her suitcase!
we both woke with a start to the sound of our alarm call at 4.30am... not enough sleep! taxi to the airport booked at 5.30am but it didn't turn up until 6am and then charged us $35! what a total rip-off!
we meet up with the others and get coffee and bagels for breakfast and then we all pile onto the plane to find that we're all sat together... fine for most of us, but not so great for the 3 in the group who decided early on to segregate themselves from everyone else and then had a big falling out during their vacation... they're all sitting in a row pretending they don't know each other - was quite funny - except that i'm sitting next to them. you could feel the tension! oh well, most of us thought they deserved it!
so, that was it... best summer i ever had...
i really need to cover the last couple of days in the usa as they were slightly fraught with problems and difficulties...
my last day in san francisco passed uneventfully, went and had a massive lunch at a cute diner then pottered around the city all day, bit of shopping, but what i was really looking for was a crazy little bookshop/museum that i found last time i was in the city, but couldn't remember its name or which area it was in - hmmm, not surprisingly, i didn't find it!
had contacted lovely chad via email, hoping to meet up with him for a drink before i left, but it all got too difficult, couldn't get through to his cell, etc. so it didn't happen. so i got an early night and sorted out my suitcase ready for the morning...
so i get up and get ready and off i go to the train which is supposed to take 30 minutes to get to the airport (well, it did last time...) and waited 30 minutes for a train. i got on the train which went one stop and then developed a fault and went out of service... another 30 minutes later and i'm on the train on the way - knowing in my heart that i've missed my plane to new york...
after freaking out and being told that i can't get another flight until 11.45pm (it was 11am) or pay for a direct flight for $800 - i get a grip and decide to stay with the airline i booked and they rearranged my flights at no extra charge, but it meant that i had to wait for 11 hours in the airport...
inertia set in but the time passed quickly enough i suppose. i read a lot of shantaram and did a bit of surfing... but i think i went into a semi-coma...
so i get on the first plane to milwaukee where i wait for around two hours before catching my connecting flight to newark - i really haven't had any sleep and time seems irrelevant
arrive at newark at around 11am and head over the hotel where zoe and i are staying but they wont let me in the room as i have no printed confirmation. so i throw a bit of strop, get out my laptop and show her the email... thank god she lets me up to the room where i throw myself onto the bed for 5 whole minutes, before jumping in the shower and getting ready to head into the city - which takes another 2 hours from newark...
head up to the meeting that had obviously finished hours before, but dinushka was there and so we had a bit of a catch-up and then i headed up to 86th street to pick up my other suitcase from robin's. i knew she wouldn't be there as she had a busy day planned at search and care - but i hoped that i might catch her. i spent a while around my old neighbourhood, couldn't bring myself to get on the subway away from my new home...
finally made it back to the hotel to find a note from zoe saying that she was in the bar with steve! went there but couldn't find them... went back to the room and re-read the note and then went back down and bumped into them coming out of the lift! a lot of cuddling later, we went back to the bar and i got some food and we had a bit of a catch-up. i fell into bed to the sounds of zoe sorting out her suitcase!
we both woke with a start to the sound of our alarm call at 4.30am... not enough sleep! taxi to the airport booked at 5.30am but it didn't turn up until 6am and then charged us $35! what a total rip-off!
we meet up with the others and get coffee and bagels for breakfast and then we all pile onto the plane to find that we're all sat together... fine for most of us, but not so great for the 3 in the group who decided early on to segregate themselves from everyone else and then had a big falling out during their vacation... they're all sitting in a row pretending they don't know each other - was quite funny - except that i'm sitting next to them. you could feel the tension! oh well, most of us thought they deserved it!
so, that was it... best summer i ever had...
Monday, 6 September 2010
bike the bridge day
woke up to another cloudy day in san francisco - it's usually cloudy here and much cooler than anywhere in the surrounding area.
met up with john and we took a bus over to fisherman's wharf to meet the girls - they weren't there so we nipped over to starbucks and had coffee while we waited. i thought that it looked different than last time... while john rang emilie to find out where they were i suddenly realised that we were in the wrong place! but john got off the phone to say that the girls were in the wrong place too! so we all wandered off and met up in the right place! much hugging and squawking took place!
hired the bikes and off we went... emilie was a bit nervous as she hadn't been on a bike for ages - but the first bit is quite easy as you cycle through the park that follows the bay round to the golden gate bridge. my memory of this side of the bridge had been obliterated, i had no idea it was so far to the base of the bridge! then we cycled/walked up the steep hill to get to the starting point and stopped for coffee - well i did!
emilie giving helen and john a big cuddle:
before the bridge:
the bridge:
me and my bicycle:
then we were off over the bridge - about halfway across the sun decided to come out and it turned into the most gorgeous day. poor emily took a tumble off her bike and i think it freaked her out a bit - so we stopped and gave her a cuddle. got to the other side and then it was downhill all the way to the very pretty little town of sausalito. john got there first and i was second - we stopped and waited for the others. i'd gone quite slowly so i got worried when emilie and helen didn't appear for ages... john ended up calling them and they were walking down as emilie was still a bit freaked out after falling...
gorgeous sunny, windy day in sausalito, john and i went off to find somewhere nice for lunch and the girls took it easy and walked through the town. we found a cute little mexican place for lunch - finally had horchata! been meaning to try it since i got here! was very sweet but very yum too! had a lovely al fresco lunch, lots of sunshine lots of food, lots of laughs - was just what i needed!
lunch:
pootled around sausalito - found a tiny farmer's market and we all went around tasting everything and not buying anything!!! more fantastic peaches/nectarines. then made our way back to the harbour and grabbed our bikes and queued up with loads of other cyclists to wait for the ferry.
piled on, everyone had bikes, which all got lined up in the middle of the boat and we went up on to the deck for the very best views of sausalito, san francisco, the golden gate bridge, alcatraz and the amazing james bond boat that was anchored in the sausalito bay.
the bridge:
alcatraz:
the james bond boat:
arrived back at fisherman's wharf and returned the bikes. then off to ghiradelli's for ice cream sundaes for dinner... well apart from john who had coffee... emilie and helen had been recommended the musée mechanique which is a little museum full of the side-shows from the american fairs of the past. so we nipped in there and had much fun putting our money in the beautifully made machines and having our fortunes told or watching some freaky dancing marionettes. ended up getting a strip of passport photos taken of all 4 of us - well apart from john who kind of disappeared off the side!
dinner:
porkers:
me having my fortune told:
wandered off to see the sea-lions, although it was getting dark by then. i nipped off to find the loo only to go on a wild goose chase to find it and then leave our photos in there and had to go chasing back for them, so i missed seeing the sealions - boo! could still smell them though!
went to the shopping wharf where john got bored of us looking at sweets and went into a movie memorabilia shop where we followed and then he got bored of us looking at movie memorabilia! then we decided to call it a night as we were all exhausted and they were all returning to new york the next day - boo!
we took the fantastic old trolley bus - looked like it was from the 40's - back into the city and parted company... another day on my own tomorrow...
bye bye little monkeys:
vx
met up with john and we took a bus over to fisherman's wharf to meet the girls - they weren't there so we nipped over to starbucks and had coffee while we waited. i thought that it looked different than last time... while john rang emilie to find out where they were i suddenly realised that we were in the wrong place! but john got off the phone to say that the girls were in the wrong place too! so we all wandered off and met up in the right place! much hugging and squawking took place!
hired the bikes and off we went... emilie was a bit nervous as she hadn't been on a bike for ages - but the first bit is quite easy as you cycle through the park that follows the bay round to the golden gate bridge. my memory of this side of the bridge had been obliterated, i had no idea it was so far to the base of the bridge! then we cycled/walked up the steep hill to get to the starting point and stopped for coffee - well i did!
emilie giving helen and john a big cuddle:
before the bridge:
the bridge:
me and my bicycle:
then we were off over the bridge - about halfway across the sun decided to come out and it turned into the most gorgeous day. poor emily took a tumble off her bike and i think it freaked her out a bit - so we stopped and gave her a cuddle. got to the other side and then it was downhill all the way to the very pretty little town of sausalito. john got there first and i was second - we stopped and waited for the others. i'd gone quite slowly so i got worried when emilie and helen didn't appear for ages... john ended up calling them and they were walking down as emilie was still a bit freaked out after falling...
gorgeous sunny, windy day in sausalito, john and i went off to find somewhere nice for lunch and the girls took it easy and walked through the town. we found a cute little mexican place for lunch - finally had horchata! been meaning to try it since i got here! was very sweet but very yum too! had a lovely al fresco lunch, lots of sunshine lots of food, lots of laughs - was just what i needed!
lunch:
pootled around sausalito - found a tiny farmer's market and we all went around tasting everything and not buying anything!!! more fantastic peaches/nectarines. then made our way back to the harbour and grabbed our bikes and queued up with loads of other cyclists to wait for the ferry.
piled on, everyone had bikes, which all got lined up in the middle of the boat and we went up on to the deck for the very best views of sausalito, san francisco, the golden gate bridge, alcatraz and the amazing james bond boat that was anchored in the sausalito bay.
the bridge:
alcatraz:
the james bond boat:
arrived back at fisherman's wharf and returned the bikes. then off to ghiradelli's for ice cream sundaes for dinner... well apart from john who had coffee... emilie and helen had been recommended the musée mechanique which is a little museum full of the side-shows from the american fairs of the past. so we nipped in there and had much fun putting our money in the beautifully made machines and having our fortunes told or watching some freaky dancing marionettes. ended up getting a strip of passport photos taken of all 4 of us - well apart from john who kind of disappeared off the side!
dinner:
porkers:
me having my fortune told:
wandered off to see the sea-lions, although it was getting dark by then. i nipped off to find the loo only to go on a wild goose chase to find it and then leave our photos in there and had to go chasing back for them, so i missed seeing the sealions - boo! could still smell them though!
went to the shopping wharf where john got bored of us looking at sweets and went into a movie memorabilia shop where we followed and then he got bored of us looking at movie memorabilia! then we decided to call it a night as we were all exhausted and they were all returning to new york the next day - boo!
we took the fantastic old trolley bus - looked like it was from the 40's - back into the city and parted company... another day on my own tomorrow...
bye bye little monkeys:
vx
santa cruz to san francisco
hey all
gonna finish up this blog as i'm now home - boo!
let's pretend that i'm still stateside...
got up early this morning hoping for sunshine, but opened the curtains to find that it's still cloudy... decided to see how far i could walk in the time i had before i had to catch the bus/train/bus to san francisco. so up and about, packing and trying to get out the door with camera, comfy shoes, etc.
strolled out of santa cruz and up hill onto the cliffs - people walking dogs, jogging and lots of surfer-types hanging around. the first bay was full of surfers in training - long boards and small waves. a few bays along was a bit more interesting, there was some kind of local surf competition on, bigger waves, smaller boards, crazy dudes! i watched this for a bit, but had to tear myself away to try and walk as far as i could before i had to turn back - didn't get too far, but the weather wasn't great. watched a big pack of dogs playing on the beach in the surf - they looked deliriously happy. hoped i would be later when i met up with the others - been too long away from friends...
surfer dudes:
happy doggies playing:
back to the hotel to check out - they forgot to charge me for the laundry too - yippee! decided to wheel my case to the bus station as on the way here i'd taken a cab and it cost $7 for about a 2 minute ride and the cab driver didn't even help me put my case in the trunk (no tip for him!). thought it was going to be difficult to get my bus/train/bus tickets as i no longer had my us dollar credit card - but luckily it wasn't a problem!
back onto the local bus to san jose and then the train to emeryville - bit of a long way round as i found out i could have got a train direct to san fran from san jose, but it was ok, beautiful day and i like the travelling! off the train and onto another bus at emeryville and then off to san fran. the high point of this was the drive over the bay bridge into the city - never done that before - fab views!
i just got off this train:
on the bay bridge:
found my hotel after getting majorly lost - checked in and had a little rest - then went out for some exploring. tried to call john to meet up but it went straight to voicemail...
what the hell? why am i getting so completely lost in san francisco - i've been here before for god's sake! can't seem to get my bearings at all... eventually found my hotel again and got through to john - yeay! arranged to meet him later at an amazing bar/restaurant that i visited last time i was here - called tommy's joynt. was fantastic to see john and we just feasted and chatted and drank beer all evening - i had 4 rolling rocks and was on a roll! walked back and it turns out that john's hotel is about 4 blocks from mine!
arranged to meet in the morning to go and meet the girls and bike the bridge!
nighty night
vx
gonna finish up this blog as i'm now home - boo!
let's pretend that i'm still stateside...
got up early this morning hoping for sunshine, but opened the curtains to find that it's still cloudy... decided to see how far i could walk in the time i had before i had to catch the bus/train/bus to san francisco. so up and about, packing and trying to get out the door with camera, comfy shoes, etc.
strolled out of santa cruz and up hill onto the cliffs - people walking dogs, jogging and lots of surfer-types hanging around. the first bay was full of surfers in training - long boards and small waves. a few bays along was a bit more interesting, there was some kind of local surf competition on, bigger waves, smaller boards, crazy dudes! i watched this for a bit, but had to tear myself away to try and walk as far as i could before i had to turn back - didn't get too far, but the weather wasn't great. watched a big pack of dogs playing on the beach in the surf - they looked deliriously happy. hoped i would be later when i met up with the others - been too long away from friends...
surfer dudes:
happy doggies playing:
back to the hotel to check out - they forgot to charge me for the laundry too - yippee! decided to wheel my case to the bus station as on the way here i'd taken a cab and it cost $7 for about a 2 minute ride and the cab driver didn't even help me put my case in the trunk (no tip for him!). thought it was going to be difficult to get my bus/train/bus tickets as i no longer had my us dollar credit card - but luckily it wasn't a problem!
back onto the local bus to san jose and then the train to emeryville - bit of a long way round as i found out i could have got a train direct to san fran from san jose, but it was ok, beautiful day and i like the travelling! off the train and onto another bus at emeryville and then off to san fran. the high point of this was the drive over the bay bridge into the city - never done that before - fab views!
i just got off this train:
on the bay bridge:
found my hotel after getting majorly lost - checked in and had a little rest - then went out for some exploring. tried to call john to meet up but it went straight to voicemail...
what the hell? why am i getting so completely lost in san francisco - i've been here before for god's sake! can't seem to get my bearings at all... eventually found my hotel again and got through to john - yeay! arranged to meet him later at an amazing bar/restaurant that i visited last time i was here - called tommy's joynt. was fantastic to see john and we just feasted and chatted and drank beer all evening - i had 4 rolling rocks and was on a roll! walked back and it turns out that john's hotel is about 4 blocks from mine!
arranged to meet in the morning to go and meet the girls and bike the bridge!
nighty night
vx
Wednesday, 25 August 2010
the good, the bad and the ugly...
hey all
it's been a few days since my last post... have been travelling a long way down through oregon and into california. am now in santa cruz, but leaving here tomorrow for san francisco... last stop before going back to new york and then home - eeek!
well, the train trip from portland to klamath falls was wonderful - took about 7 hours - but it was beautiful - so much better than the bus - lots of room and able to move about and go for a wee when you need to rather than on the bus when you have to wait for a smoke stop...
views from the train:
met a lovely guy called chad on the train - he's studying art in san francisco and he reads a lot, so we had a ton of stuff to talk about - it was really great and we had laughed a lot. we started talking about hunter s thompson and i told him that i'd designed a book cover on him - and the spookiest thing was that he knew the book (with the US cover though) and then he showed me his sketch of the photo of him that's on the cover - so i dragged out my laptop and showed him my cover with the same photo! how weird is that! hoping to meet up with him in san francisco.
i'm currently reading shantaram which is his favourite book too - was nice to talk about art and books - we swapped books for a bit too as he was reading a book of short stories which i read a couple of - and he flipped through shantaram.
i got off the train in the dark at klamath falls and was a bit worried as chad had been telling me that there is still quite a KKK following in klamath falls and there was a full moon so i was a bit spooked - but it was totally fine and i ended up getting a cab to my hotel with some other people who were going there.
up and about the next morning - glorious sunshine and fresh air - was gorgeous! off to the shuttle bus station and an hour and a half on a shuttle bus to medford to meet the greyhound bus to sacramento.
downtown klamath falls:
no greyhound station here, this is the little shuttle station:
mountains:
arrived in sacramento in the evening after a not-so-comfortable journey on the greyhound - although the scenery was beautiful. lots of trees and mountains with snow along the way. stayed at the youth hostel in sacramento which is a gold-rush house built in 1895 - a palace really - my room was very pretty although someone had seen fit to paint it the most lurid shade of orange - bleurgh!
my pretty room:
the sacramento youth hostel:
up the next day and onto another train for 3 hours - i love the trains here. pootled along (they don't go very fast) through industrial california through lots of waterways which were gorgeous in the sunshine. off the train at san jose and onto another bus to santa cruz.
lime flavoured crisps - very salty and limey - probably delicious with some tequila cocktails:
do you know the way to san jose?
checked into my nice hotel with pool - did some much needed laundry - then went off to explore santa cruz on a gorgeous hot sunny afternoon. went to the boardwalk with the funfair that is featured on the lost boys - but it wasn't too spooky - too many people about! felt a bit lonely and didn't go on any rides - no fun on my own...
walked to the end of the pier where there were lots of seafood restaurants but ended up getting fish and chips and sitting at the end of the pier watching the sun go down, with surfers and kayakers in the distance and the call of the seals (who live under the pier) and the sea-gulls - was glorious but got chilly when the sun went down so came back to the hotel and chatted to jo for a bit on facebook!
santa cruz from the pier:
pretty posing seal:
the view from my fish and chips:
moon rising in santa cruz:
twilight fairground:
today has been a bit of a mixed bag really - got up late and wandered downtown (away from the beach) - thought it was all a bit hippyish, but there are some great shops here and ended up buying some really lovely shoes (like i need another pair!) and also visited the farmers market where i got lunch and lots of samples of the lovely fruit and veg on display - fabulous peaches/nectarines here!
then wandered back through town and was just about to buy another dress (like i need another!) and went into my wallet to give her my credit card to realise that i'd lost it - panic stations! i'd only left it in the bloody atm machine. of course it wasn't there when i went back, so i rushed back to my hotel to cancel it... am very very cross with myself... what an absolute eejut!
had wanted to go and do the cliff walk to take some photos but the weather had taken a turn for the worst and the mist had come down, so abandoned my walk as it seemed pointless... went and got some cheap food and went to see a movie in a cutie little cinema... not a great idea as the movie i decided to see was the new todd solondz 'life during wartime', jeez, should have chosen something else - was a bit too weird for me...
the nick - a gorgeous little cinema:
so am back at the hotel and gonna try to get up early tomorrow (a mammoth task for me) and do the cliff walk as i'm leaving on the bus/train tomorrow at 11am... right, time to set the alarm...
nighty night
vx
it's been a few days since my last post... have been travelling a long way down through oregon and into california. am now in santa cruz, but leaving here tomorrow for san francisco... last stop before going back to new york and then home - eeek!
well, the train trip from portland to klamath falls was wonderful - took about 7 hours - but it was beautiful - so much better than the bus - lots of room and able to move about and go for a wee when you need to rather than on the bus when you have to wait for a smoke stop...
views from the train:
met a lovely guy called chad on the train - he's studying art in san francisco and he reads a lot, so we had a ton of stuff to talk about - it was really great and we had laughed a lot. we started talking about hunter s thompson and i told him that i'd designed a book cover on him - and the spookiest thing was that he knew the book (with the US cover though) and then he showed me his sketch of the photo of him that's on the cover - so i dragged out my laptop and showed him my cover with the same photo! how weird is that! hoping to meet up with him in san francisco.
i'm currently reading shantaram which is his favourite book too - was nice to talk about art and books - we swapped books for a bit too as he was reading a book of short stories which i read a couple of - and he flipped through shantaram.
i got off the train in the dark at klamath falls and was a bit worried as chad had been telling me that there is still quite a KKK following in klamath falls and there was a full moon so i was a bit spooked - but it was totally fine and i ended up getting a cab to my hotel with some other people who were going there.
up and about the next morning - glorious sunshine and fresh air - was gorgeous! off to the shuttle bus station and an hour and a half on a shuttle bus to medford to meet the greyhound bus to sacramento.
downtown klamath falls:
no greyhound station here, this is the little shuttle station:
mountains:
arrived in sacramento in the evening after a not-so-comfortable journey on the greyhound - although the scenery was beautiful. lots of trees and mountains with snow along the way. stayed at the youth hostel in sacramento which is a gold-rush house built in 1895 - a palace really - my room was very pretty although someone had seen fit to paint it the most lurid shade of orange - bleurgh!
my pretty room:
the sacramento youth hostel:
up the next day and onto another train for 3 hours - i love the trains here. pootled along (they don't go very fast) through industrial california through lots of waterways which were gorgeous in the sunshine. off the train at san jose and onto another bus to santa cruz.
lime flavoured crisps - very salty and limey - probably delicious with some tequila cocktails:
do you know the way to san jose?
checked into my nice hotel with pool - did some much needed laundry - then went off to explore santa cruz on a gorgeous hot sunny afternoon. went to the boardwalk with the funfair that is featured on the lost boys - but it wasn't too spooky - too many people about! felt a bit lonely and didn't go on any rides - no fun on my own...
walked to the end of the pier where there were lots of seafood restaurants but ended up getting fish and chips and sitting at the end of the pier watching the sun go down, with surfers and kayakers in the distance and the call of the seals (who live under the pier) and the sea-gulls - was glorious but got chilly when the sun went down so came back to the hotel and chatted to jo for a bit on facebook!
santa cruz from the pier:
pretty posing seal:
the view from my fish and chips:
moon rising in santa cruz:
twilight fairground:
today has been a bit of a mixed bag really - got up late and wandered downtown (away from the beach) - thought it was all a bit hippyish, but there are some great shops here and ended up buying some really lovely shoes (like i need another pair!) and also visited the farmers market where i got lunch and lots of samples of the lovely fruit and veg on display - fabulous peaches/nectarines here!
then wandered back through town and was just about to buy another dress (like i need another!) and went into my wallet to give her my credit card to realise that i'd lost it - panic stations! i'd only left it in the bloody atm machine. of course it wasn't there when i went back, so i rushed back to my hotel to cancel it... am very very cross with myself... what an absolute eejut!
had wanted to go and do the cliff walk to take some photos but the weather had taken a turn for the worst and the mist had come down, so abandoned my walk as it seemed pointless... went and got some cheap food and went to see a movie in a cutie little cinema... not a great idea as the movie i decided to see was the new todd solondz 'life during wartime', jeez, should have chosen something else - was a bit too weird for me...
the nick - a gorgeous little cinema:
so am back at the hotel and gonna try to get up early tomorrow (a mammoth task for me) and do the cliff walk as i'm leaving on the bus/train tomorrow at 11am... right, time to set the alarm...
nighty night
vx
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