Scribblings from the Mitchy Side

Well that was one of the most organised flights I think I've had. I was up sufficiently early that I was able to catch the 6.45am train from WGC - I'll pause for those of you who know and love me to to absorb the rather unusual fact that I WAS UP EARLY - and had a majorly smooth run to Heathrow. Only had to wait 30 seconds for a Heathrow train at Finsbury Park and by 8.30, I was at the airport.

I got through check in speedily - only having the one bag to check in helped and there was hardly any queue. Strolled over to O'Neill's, had a terrific cooked breakfast and two mugs of tea and felt human and ready to go. The flight was half empty so it didn't take long to board and we left on time. Had a good flight over, 7 hours all told, managed to sleep for some of it. The movie options were complete crap so it was just as well I was sleepy, really. Read and dozed for the rest of the time and tried not to punch out the morons in front of and behind me for their incessant talking and persistent fussing with hand luggage.

I cleared customs and baggage handling in record time at JFK. Seriously, that's the smoothest exit from a US airport I think I've ever had. No more than 10 mins queuing at Customs and by the time I reached the luggage carousel, the bags from the flight were being hauled off and stacked for collection. Impressive, I must have landed during a quiet time :)

There was no queue for the taxi rank and in no time at all, Jean-Claude was whisking me through NY traffic to Manhattan. There was minor Mitchy squee-ing as we drove past Shea Stadium :D Mary, my host for the first three days, had sent me directions to her place and I was able to describe where I wanted to go to the cabbie. Worked like a charm :) Although we did drive past Mary's apartment building by mistake, having failed to spot the number on the gate.

True to her word, Mary had left a key with the security guard and in no time at all, I was in her very nice apartment. It's much bigger than I thought it'd be, with a big lounge (bigger than mine) with the Second Comfiest Sofa in the World, TV, dining table and bookshelves, a decent sized kitchen (bit smaller than mine), tiny bathroom and a room that is the same size as the lounge, judging from the layout, that's Mary's bedroom. Lots of storage space too, I was impressed.

The shower called to me, as I felt thoroughly grimy after the trip (what is it about air travel that does that?) and in no time at all, I was ensconced on the SCSitW, figuring out which remote worked the TV :) From door to sofa, all told, the journey took about 14 hours, though obviously I got five hours back thanks to those pesky time zones.

Mary had had a busy and annoying day, so was quite happy for a quiet evening. She took me to her local grocery store to get supplies and watched me boggling at the scale of the place. It's not so much that it was big, it's just the range of things available was fantastic. You needed a map and compass or a native guide to find your way around though :) Oh and we found cider! Yum! New brand to me, called Original Sin *smirks*

We dropped the shopping off and then Mary suggested we ate out so we went to a restaurant called "Toast". Small but very good, lovely atmosphere and good service. I had a cheese and bacon burger which, to be honest, I was not impressed with, it was too dry. The homemade fries were excellent and, happily, they served Original Sin cider, so I got to try it out. It's a good cider! Very pale in a glass, with a hint of green, it's almost sweet but not quite. Very tasty.

Back at Mary's, we watched some TV before I finally crashed out on the SCSitW, having been on the move for 23 hours. I slept ok-ish, I kept waking up though and I woke up to the screaming sounds of jackhammers at work at 7am. I also woke up with a splitting headache, which wasn't fun. However, a shower, some food (mm bagels, cream cheese and smoked salmon!) and a couple of Nurofen sorted me out. I have now reacquainted myself with the Subway system, been to Penn Station to buy my ticket to out to Long Island later this afternoon, where I will be visiting jenni411, been to Grand Central Station for a guided tour, of which I will write about later, and now I'm here for the next little while :)

It's going good! :D