A very British sense of humo(u)r
Crime isn’t funny, I know. But a New York Police Department sign which I saw in a yellow cab on my way home this evening made me laugh out loud. The sign read: “Reward up to $500.00 for the arrest and conviction of anyone who commits GRAFFITI VANDALISM” And scrawled underneath that in neat ballpoint [...]
When the chips hit the fan
It’s always strange to find out how other people view your nation. For example, every single day, somebody talks to me in a faux British accent that suggests they’ve come straight off the set of Mary Poppins or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. To the majority of Americans, the British are posh and haughty. Even the [...]
Fast food nation
Last weekend we travelled down to East Tennessee en famille to see The Special One’s nearest and dearest. And a very pleasant time was had by all, celebrating the 90th birthday of GeeGeeBee. But after all the family excesses, The Special One and I gleefully seized with open arms the opportunity to spend an hour [...]
Best snack (in a supporting role)
Shortly after my sister’s first trip to New York, I sent her a text message asking her what she thought of my (then) soon-to-be-adopted-city. Her response? “The sandwiches are huge”. Maybe it’s not the first thing that they put in the guidebooks, but it’s fair to say that excess is a central part of life [...]
Not a morning person
Getting up has never been one of my strong points. My mum had to threaten to pour a glass of water over me on numerous occasions in an attempt to get me out of bed when I was a kid, and I’ve overslept on many an occasion. I think it’s fair to say that I’m [...]
The Carroll Gardens cleaning curse
As any readers from the UK will probably know, there’s something known as ‘The Curse of OK!’ under which a remarkably large number of celebrity couples that open their homes to the cameras of the glossy magazine OK! suddenly find their marriage falling apart. Personally I reckon it’s more due to the fact that most [...]
The real New York
I love Facebook. Admittedly I feel like a bit of a teenager for using it, and I think The Youngest and The Eldest are perpetually embarrassed that their stepdad can be found within its realms. But there’s just something intriguing in finding out what your friends and colleagues are up to when you’re not around, [...]
Racked with guilt
Sitting at my desk on Friday, a short grey-haired old man popped his head around the door. Now, I work in a relatively young office, and grey-haired old men are about as regular a sighting as Lindsay Lohan at a MENSA meeting. Needless to say, seeing the man’s shadowy figure at the door of my [...]
Let there be (saintly) love
As regular readers will know, I’m not a particular fan of abbreviating words or finding shorter ways of saying things. I always prefer calling friends David rather than Dave, for example. Although only if they are actually called David. I tried calling my friend Liz ‘David’ once. Suffice to say that these days she’s less [...]
Cushioning the blow
It’s days like this when you realise just how sodding big the United States is. This time yesterday, I was in Los Angeles soaking up the sun ahead of my long trip east back to The Special One and co. The temperature was in the 80s, and t-shirts and shorts were the only attire necessary. [...]
