Scribblings from the Mitchy Side

Saturday morning started a bit later than we'd planned. I can't speak for jenni411 but I didn't sleep that well, my subconscious was fretting a bit about the loss of my cash and cards. First thing I did when I got up was hastily scrambled into some clothes and nip down to see if the hotel staff had access to the internet so they could look up the numbers they needed. They didn't, but I knew where the nearest internet place was so I left Jenni to scamper off and have breakfast while I scampered to the internet place. 30 minutes later, I scampered back again, with the numbers I needed. Why, yes, I do normally have them written down in a book. Guess where the numbers were this time? Yes! In my wallet. Three things I normally do that I didn't this time around: keep my British money separate from my US money; keep my credit card and debit card separate; have important phone numbers stashed somewhere for emergencies. *sighs* Naturally the one time I do none of these things is the one time I really need them. Oh well. Live and learn.

jenni411 let me use her mobile to make the calls as the hotel charges were seriously obscene for international calls - $16 per minute for feck's sake! It's just as well I used her mobile because the call to Capital One was painful - the operator kept spelling my name wrong and thus refused to believe I had a card or an account. We got there in the end once I realised she was spelling my surname with a P and not a K. *headdesk* The call to Abbey National was extremely quick and I must send them a complimentary letter, they were very professional and on the ball and it's not often I have reason to say nice things about Abbey.

Happily there had been no activity on either card since I lost them so with the cards cancelled, I could relax and get on with things. We had planned to go the Met but that got postponed again. One day I will get there if it kills me. Instead we went up to 57th street, where we met Mary, having phoned her earlier and found out that she was going to be downtown at her hairdressers and could bring my watch with her. At least that was one thing I misplaced that I got back *grins* From the hairdressers, we headed downtown to 12th Street and Strands secondhand bookstore. It took a bit longer than normal because there was engineering works on the line (brother, does that ever sound familiar!!) and we had to faff about a bit to get a train to 14th, but we got there in the end. Strands purports to be the biggest Second Hand Bookstore in the world. I don't know if it's true, but it has a good claim. It's huge! There's just miles of shelving - 18 miles, so they say - packed full of books. I was mildly disappointed there weren't more paperbacks but nonetheless there was much happy browsing. I found two rare Diane Duane books for silly money, an Anthony Bourdain for half price, and four paperbacks for very little. Hee! jenni411 was more restrained than me, she got about 3 books all told.

There was a diner right next door to the bookshop so we went in there for lunch. Much cheaper than Maxie's! I had a Philly cheesesteak (adequate) and jenni411 had a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich, which looked nice but I was informed it was a smidge greasy.

We headed back uptown when we were done, and went to the hotel to drop the books off. By now it was late afternoon, so we read our new purchases for a bit and then headed back up to Times Square to go and see Tom Cruise be a hero. Mi3 is a marvellous piece of action fluff and we thoroughly enjoyed it :) Great set pieces and it moves briskly enough you don't think of all the gaping plot holes until afterwards *g*.

From the cinema we nipped into Easyjet.com's internet place again to look up Italian restaurants in the neighbourhood and found one that could give us a table. Five minutes after we'd left the café, we'd both forgotten the street number and exactly what to look for *giggles* One quick phone call back and we got it straightened out and found the place. It was a very nice place, small but pleasant. I indulged in a mushroom starter, which was later to get its revenge (memo to self: Self, you might be allergic to Portobello mushrooms. Either that or it was poorly cooked. Check this out before ordering it again!), and a delicious pasta dish the name of which I couldn't even pronounce, let alone spell, but was pasta shells in a creamy tomato sauce, with proscuitto, leeks and mozzarella cheese. Yum! And there was an apple tart for dessert, with vanilla gelato. Oooh it was good!

Back at the hotel, I had a shower and washed my hair, then packed everything, checking carefully that I had everything this time! For verily and forsooth, I had to be in the lobby for a 5.30am pick up by the Shuttle Service to the hotel. Gnnng!