You win some, you lose some
I’ve always hated the word ‘expat’, abbreviated or otherwise. It’s not the word itself, I guess, but more the notion that I ever ‘belonged’ to one part of the world in the first place. And more to the point, when I think of ‘expats’, I bring to mind the likes of Frank, Doris, Ethel and [...]
It’s just a jump to the left, and then a step to the right…
Defying American customs that say you will be struck down from on high if you even think about having an alcoholic drink outdoors, this weekend I managed to enjoy my first margarita of the year while sitting outside listening to an old fashioned country rock band. Contrary to New York thinking, no ill befell me, [...]
My name’s A Brit Out Of Water, and I’m a cheese addict
Having been plugged into my iPod each morning on the way to work this week, I’ve realised just how many guilty pleasures I have when it comes to music. Everybody has their own guilty pleasure – that song that you know you really shouldn’t like, but somehow you can’t just help yourself. Admitting to it [...]
Important pan pipe update
If you read or commented on the post regarding the pan pipe/pan flute man who ‘graces’ the L platform at 14th Street/Union Square, you need to know that the non-performing busker plumbed new creative depths this morning. Nobody – and I mean nobody – needs to hear a pan pipe version of “Can You Feel [...]
The pipes of peace
I’ve said it before, but New York is a city packed full of people who just don’t know when to stop. As the old Chinese proverb says, “Start argument with New Yorker on Tuesday, kiss goodbye to weekend.” And if a New Yorker fails at something, expect them to keep trying until they’ve finally achieved [...]
It’s Not Right, But It’s Okay
I’ve been a music fan for as long as I can remember. From listening to the Muppets album at my grandmother’s house as a five year old, through to playing a cassette of the soundtrack from Electric Dreams, and on to my first live gig (Heart, if you must know – credibility was a distant [...]
Lord knows I can’t change
You might know me as the mild mannered janitor of this esteemed property, but I have a secret. A secret dark enough that it only speaks its name to a select few. A secret that I only shared with The Special One a few months before our wedding, for fear that she would call the [...]
On song
You get a better class of crazy in this city, you know. Walking along a side street a few blocks from Times Square last night, I saw (and indeed heard) a dawdling dishevelled old man, singing at the absolute top of his voice. I’m guessing, but he looked like he was about 70 years old [...]
Wheels of steel
Am just back from a long long weekend in the UK to attend a wedding in the heart of the rather gorgeous Peak District. When you mix a lovely old stately home-type hotel, a healthy smattering of some of your best mates in the world, a seemingly limitless supply of red and white wine, and [...]
No can do
My first job with a proper company (for which read “a company that there was a vague chance my Mum and Dad had ever heard of”) involved handling publicity for a television channel. Life was never dull there, it has to be said. My first staff-only Christmas party made national headlines after another TV channel [...]
