happy

I’m unbearably happy. Today and yesterday(!) I woke up in Manhattan! This morning, just like yesterday, TH made breakfast and everyone gathered around the breakfast table in high spirits. There are 3 laptops on the go, 4 yesterday.

Who cares if the journey here was gruelling. At last I had found a benefit to living so close to Heathrow. On waking not only did I know that scheduled flights were air-bourne but I only had to get up at 6.30 for a 10am flight. Dearest bro dropped me in off in good time to check in. Or so I thought. I checked in my baggage just as they were calling for check in to close. I had queued close to 1½ hours without having eaten or drunk a thing. Upon checking in, I dashed towards the departure gate and greedily ate a bacon and egg baguette, and supped on a latte and some water before queuing again to exchange my currency. Security check in saw another huge queue. I seemed to be behind scores of people who had never travelled before. I made it through to the other side just in time to see that my flight was closing and had another mad dash to Gate 28. Pah.

The flight went just as you’d expect really although I was amazed at the attitude of the AA stewards, and not necessarily in a bad way. I watched some TV, tried to sleep and had polite conversation with the man next to me, who was on the way to see his Methodist Minister wife of 10 years. Now, that is truly a long distance conversation. On landing I sailed through customs and after some excitable conversation the lovely lady who ran the taxi queue pushed me to the front of the queue, so I was in the Shark & TH’s within 1 ½ hours of landing. I also managed to find a sane taxi driver.

On arriving I was greeted with a glass of cold champagne, which I supped while emptying the contents of my bag. Cheesy Wotsits, Hula Hoops, mince pies, Nurofen, Feminax and shark/purple related pressies. The remainder of the day was spent boozing and turkey eating, well, it was Boxing Day. The routine only being broken with a short trip to top up with yet more vodka and gin. I met the lady opposite and under instructions, I acted myself. Spookily, she has not knocked here since. I eventually admitted defeat and went to bed just after 9 where I had a spectacular 9 hour sleep.

Yesterday I woke up at 7.15am full of beans yesterday, just the right frame of mind for a trip to Coney Island. After a brisk walk in the sea air, where Shark reminised about the time she found a gun there, we had a huge slap up lunch at Nathan’s, famous for their hot dogs. Yum. The N train brought us straight to Union Square and a trip to the cinema to watch A Night in the Museum. Brilliant, you must go to see it. We strolled down to Livebait and immediately discovered we were wearing our drinking hats and only want of food and the matter of a minor drove us to leave. Fuelled by alcohol we played tag all the way home, home being particularly apt for the Shark who could not be it as she was home. Fair? We let her get away with it though as she is providing bed and full lodgings. On arriving home no one fancied turkey anymore EVER AGAIN so we ordered take out very late which seemed to give everyone, apart from me, horrid nightmares and, perhaps, some spooky premonitions. Watch this space.