Out of the ordinary.

I had my first burst of American Football during the week as we went out with the office on Wednesday for a game in the local Sinatra Park. I was relatively accustomed with the rules so wasn't too bad and the Gaelic skills were of at least some use. It had been a while though and my legs were giving out for 2 straight days afterwards. On Friday, we were all treated to some ice-cream with the office because we had reached a milestone with one of the programs we use within the office.

Saturday was spent back in Coney Island for the mermaid parade. I thought I had missed the parade since it occurs on the first Saturday of the summer, but apparently the summer doesn't start at the start of June like I was told? There was definitely a very different buzz around the area this weekend and the place was jammers, we queued for at least 20 minutes to get some hot-dogs this time. In the interest of keeping the ratings board off my back and maintaining my PG13 rating I may have to spare some of the more, unique, sights that we were witness to, there is a reason the parade is not broadcast. It's a very genuine, slightly seedy, “for the love of the culture” type parade and it was a great deal of fun.

Avast! Dar be scurvy pirates all along these here parades; yar...


In keeping with PG13.


Nice get up.


Costume made from discarded metro cards.


MJ and baby.




Very impressive; wouldn't you agree Sinead?


That's what kids are for.


This is the same guy from the Puerto Rico parade! He gets around.


We took a walk down the pier and around the boardwalk afterwards to bask in the sun and see what other sort of characters we would come across. On the pier, we got the chance to see one of the local fishers reeling in some fresh catches, while the boardwalk provided ample sideshow entertainment. It had been an enlightening day and I'm glad I got to come down to see the parade especially as there are lots of plans for the area since it has been bought up which may hinder future spectacles.



Sunday's plan was a much simpler one, or so we thought. There was free kayaking on the Hudson up in Hoboken so we said we would go along to that when it opened at 11, give it a shot and then make our way home. The plan was solid. We arrived at eleven and waited for them to set up, once they had done so, we were sent out for twenty minutes and so off we went, kayaking around our little boxed off area. As we walked back up the ramp once our time had expired we noticed that they were calling for volunteers to take the kayaks back to Manhattan; unsure of exactly what they required, we inquired. Turned out they were going to kayak all the way back to 57th street, down the Hudson, which would take roughly one hour and just about anyone could go along, just show up at 4. Fair enough, “we'll be there!” we proclaimed, suicidally.

We spent the next hour doing a spot of clothes shopping (yes ladies, it's possible to go for 3 months without looking at clothes in New York) in anticipation of next weekend (you'll have to tune in to find out!) before heading back to Sinatra Park to just sit down and enjoy the sun for a few hours. There was a bit of a market setup with some Puerto Rico salsa band playing some tunes for our amusement.



Once 4pm rolled around, we made our way back to the kayak ramp to face our fate. Once we got there, we meet up with a couple of American guys and hit it off straight away so got talking with them. They were in the same boat, figuratively, no idea what they were doing or how they had got themselves into a one hour trek across the Hudson in a plastic tub. We set off though and while there was some nice waves, some barges and cruise ships passing we managed to get across in one piece, much to every bodies surprise and relief. It was a very cool day though, it's not often you get a chance like that and this was 100% free, that doesn't happen in New York.



My feet! Didn't have a change of socks or shoes, my feet STUNG in the morning! Hurray!






Once we were done, the lads we were with asked us to go for “one or two” and we were not going to turn them down; kayaking builds some thirst. We made our way to a “Porter House”-esque bar around the corner and set up camp. Those of you who are a little street smart are now putting together the fact that we went for “one or two”, yet the blog is a day late...

We got talking all night; they had been all around Europe, one was a very Irish guy into a lot of sport and there was twins, one of which was very tech savvy so we were in good company and the conversation was never stalled. They told us about some upcoming events and how to go about organising some of the other things we have been planning so it was a great night in that respect and it's likely that we will organise something with them before we leave.

We made it back to Hoboken and crashed onto our beds, 12 hours overdue; so much for the plan.