Weather permitting.

Your eyes do not deceive you, that is the sun. I had heard that they got their fair share of it over here, but I was beginning to doubt it; finally it reared it's beautiful head.

Previously, during the still miserable week, we finally obtained a second bed so we didn't have to swap the bed and couch any more, so here is my room for the next six months. You cannot see the junk/dirty clothes because I have a whole half-rooms worth of empty space behind me and a walk in closet! The rest of the week was generally quite quiet and we seem to be fitting in quite well in work.



With the weather as good as it was on the Saturday, I decided to go out and take a look at some parks. Some of Gary's family was down so he left to spend the day with them. First stop was the local park, 2 blocks walking distance from the house.







Not today my friend.






It was a lot bigger than I thought, with a ton of different activities. There was a full length running circuit (w/ long jump, discus etc...) , football field (soccer), basketball courts and baseball fields (at least 4). I was beginning to work up a sweat after the whole 10 or 15 minutes of walking I had put in, so sat down to watch the local kids take on Hoboken in some baseball.

The wind up.


The moment of truth.


It's gone. (Please ignore the minor detail that in the final shot of this "sequence" the batter is of a different ethnic background)


With that taken care of, I moved on toward the light-rail with NYC in mind. Half way there I saw some practice taking place in a usually abandoned (American) football field, so jumped out to see what was happening. It was some local teens practicing Lacrosse for a game they have on Monday. It seemed like a decent enough game, I had only heard and/or seen bits of it before.





And here is a long distance shot of the first thing immigrants used to see, although I don't think they saw it from that exact angle.


From here I made my way into NYC, and after a quick spot of shopping began to head in for Central Park. On my way I saw a couple of things, first was the Turkish protest although I am still not entirely sure what it was about, something to do with liars and injustice. The thing that struck me most about it was the huge police force even for something that was not drawing too much attention; perhaps the Gardi should take note for the next time protestants walked down O'Connell street.

After that I stumbled upon some Dance Project lark, not much dancing, and one inaudible girl in the background was singing. After a respite, I moved on.



I finally reached Central Park sometime in Midday, it really is an impressive beauty in the middle of a steaming pile of grey. I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Purdy Flowers


It really is a huge contrast


Lot's of things going on.


And lots of people doing them.




Me giving it my best artistic attempt.


And again.


Nothing artistic about this one.


and to subdue my female contingent (or perhaps a certain red-headed friend, high-five if you're out there). (PS, don't fullstops look weird when put right after the bracket? Is there a rule about this? Perhaps I am just ill-versed in the way of bracket usage.


Roller-dancers. These are pretty impressive, but none more so than the older gen that are giving just as much gusto as the young-uns.


And now, the interlude. (I stopped recording right before they finished the song >.<)


Great drum rhythm band, and old-jiggling-man.


It seems that not even the players of games over here can help from getting bored, as I sat and watched a softball game, the players were downing beers and one guy was pretty wasted by the end of it. It was hilarious though, and there was a female pitcher on the other team so they were getting quite worked up as she was striking them out. And I think that was only about half of Central Park that I got through.

On my way out of the park, I saw a kid playing on one of the rocks and she seemed to be getting herself into a spot of bother as she tried to scale the cliff-face. With nobody around, I tried to keep an eye on her as I left, and sure enough, she slipped. Chest flat to the stone with no support, it was time for Captain Andrew to save the day. In true Hollywood-esq style I tossed my bag from my back and ripped my jacket from my arms as I ran (In retrospect, I still have no idea why I took off my jacket I wasn't exactly thinking about it at the time but it would hardly make he any faster. It did make me look cool though, and I guess that makes it worth it.). I reached the girl and guided her down, catching her on her final stumble back to earth, slightly bemused, she ran back to her friend who I think had called her Mam. I was thanked as I brushed off my jacket, Captain Andrew was done for the day. Unfortunately there was no mass-gathering and applause as there is in the movies, although I do think I had an audience of two, but I don't do this for the recognition, I do it for the kids.

The above passage may represent a story altered for dramatic effect

With my blood racing, there was only one place to go; Mc Donalds. After a quick eat, I began my journey home, although not without taking some night-time shots as I had previously promised.

I thought that was the day over and began to make my way home, but through a real moment of genius I thought "Why should I call it a night at 9pm, this is the city that never sleeps" and so I decided to get off at 14th street and see what was happening around that area. Well, it didn't take long before I was completely and utterly lost. I walked for at least an hour before finally making my way back to 33rd street to get home (33rd street is where I had started before I decided to stop off, and from 14th street I had headed south; where the numbers go lower). I did find where the expensive restaurants are, comedy clubs are, gay village is. So the night was not a complete waste.

Times Square by night.


Spider-man!! (and a very pissed off daughter :))


This one didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, but it's decent enough to warrant display.


My feet were on fire when I got home and it was straight to bed. I was slightly red, but that disappeared by morning.

Today started with a spot of shopping after another little walk around the local park. I thought I had stumbled across a goldmine in a wholesalers supermarket and so began to load up my trolley with all sorts of things "Why doesn't everyone shop here?" I proclaimed. Of course, when I got to the checkout my question was answered.

"Can I see your card sir?"

"Certainly." (As I handed them a debit card, assuming they just didn't take cash)

"Em, your members card sir"

"Oh, right, yeah, I don't have one of those"

*Cue awkward standing*

And I was already planning how I was going to spend all that saved money! Blast!

I bought a Basketball while I was out just to give me something to do instead of sit around so after some dinner I went out to the park at around 6. The place was jammers, so I sat on the bench, hoping not to be singled out for anything and just tried to blend in although even that was hard ( not because of skin colour, just general attire). Eventually a basket became vacant and I started messing about, but it was a short 5 minutes before players were amassing for a game, and I was caught in the cross-fire of team picking.

" "Big man" is on our team". Little did he know that was about all I had going for me.

I gave it my all, but when they realised how badly I sucked (and that didn't take long), the hazing began and it's dog eat dog. I was made the fool of numerous times, but hey, someone's got to be the new guy. And the laughs they had when I said "Fair enough" to the offer of another game. It was grand though and all in good fun, plus the younger guys were pointing out all my mistakes for me. I got home around 10 (and I can feel the blisters coming! I know, lovely) and now here I am.

Gary is with his family tonight, so I have to find something between now and whenever I sleep that will wake me up for work tomorrow.

Till we meet again,

Captain Andrew, over and out.