TV scheduling

when I could barely move yesterday, I watched a lot of telly in the evening. I'm always so surprised by now crap the scheduling is. you'll be watching a programme, which is abruptly interrupted by an and, which is in turn interrupted by another ad. they then replay the first ad again during the same ad break. ITV, I'll never complain again.

loving the Japanese food in NYC

we met up with B and L who Phil met through work on Thursday. we went to aburiya kinnosuke for some posh izakaya food. delicious pork belly in miso and yellowtail collar head grilled on a robata grill. delicious. I also had some devious grapefruit chu Thai which has given me a stonking two-day hangover. we're off to Harlem and the Bronx for as hip hop tour today. need to steel myself before hand so off to pan ya for an onigiri for breakfast. love living in such a J place.

American Location x 3

watching home renovation and relocation programmes have been a cultural revelation. people are so rude on the American shows. not sure Kirsty would put up with, 'you're good at finding good bathrooms, but the rest of the house I'd awful.' or 'stop saying there's character. there isn't any.' oh my.

two strange things I've learnt this week

1) mayor bloomberg got fed up with people calling 911 in non emergencies so set up the hotline 311 which all new Yorkers are allowed to call. they will get any question answered even if it's a rubbish one. 2) you can buy detergent to clean fruit and veg of pesticides. chemical warfare.

such a relaxing weekend

this weekend we meet up with Charlotte and John on Sunday night from about five pm until eight pm. the rest of the time was just the boy and me, hanging out. we loved it. we have fewer friends here, but it doesn't stress us out. Friday we had a delicious bowl of ramen at kambi. the pork char siu was incredible, thick and soft. we then flaked on the sofa. Saturday we went to pelham bay park, where we saw the most ghetto beach ever. the beach was rammed, filled with families and groups with huge, competing sound systems. the best one was huge cooler with built in speakers. there were folk with speakers bigger than our one back home. we then took the bus to city island, which was incredible. it was stepping back in time to a little village with clapper fronts and porches in the new England style amongst the houses. and all the seafood you could eat. a one and a quarter pound lobster and sides for 15 quid. what a bargain. who would have thought we were in the Bronx. we then got home and chilled and booked accommodation for our honeymoon. frozen yoghurt was a short step out at half midnight. it's amazing to be somewhere warm enough for that. today we had a decadent lunch before doing very little until this evening when we went to a Russian spa. it was rough around the edges but the other folk were friendly and I got to beat the boy with a big branch. salted cod for tea. what an amazing weekend.

Summer solstice eve blues

I've been feeling weird and odd all day, no, all week.

It must be because it's the summer solstice tomorrow, but I've been a bit down. Not sad, but at a loose end and restless. Yes, that's it, I feel restless. Maybe after eight months of non-stop action and angst, my body and brain have just gotten used to having a new, insurmountable project to deal with each day. I hope this passes because I don't feel right.

In other news, I have bumped into not-the-Hollywood-actress-neighbour twice in three days. She is an actress, but used to be a fundraiser in London, studied international development and worked at an INGO. Her husband worked in the Credit Suisse building in Canary Wharf when I was based there and he's Indonesia/Australia so is obsessed with the Asian food around here. Shame they're moving to Brooklyn on Monday!

I also turned up for a meeting at 2.30pm about 45 minutes from my house only to find that it was actually at 1pm and that the two people I was meeting had long gone. What a pillock.

Roll on summer solstice plus one day...

Was I greeted by a Hollywood celeb when my neighbour's door opened whilst I was waiting for the lift...

The answer is no.

Just a very pregnant Brit called Laura.

I wonder where in the building they are then...

In other news, holiday for our one-year anniversary booked for Hawai'i. Huzzah! Way better than noro-virus in Suffolk for our honeymoon.

Our housewarming party

We had our housewarming party on Saturday and I'd say it was a success. We spent $250 in the wine store on Pimms so that I could spend the whole night not talking to anyone, but just saying, 'It's Pimms o'clock to everyone.' Very annoying indeed. Apparently they call Pimms, Pimms Cups here, so it was funny when my guests were asking me how to make it. 'Er, three parts Sprite, one part Pimms.'

We had a good turnout with around 20 people, which in a small apartment makes for a serious amount of noise once the booze has kicked in. I felt bad for Jason, as everyone seemed disappointed that he wasn't Daniel Craig...

Sunday was spent lounging around. We went out to buy food for a fry-up but forgot about food for dinner so ended up having an odds-and-sods dinner. Ah well, it was amazing doing nothing for 12 hours straight.

Capital One, your turn...

Soon, I'm not going to have to complain. As some of you saw, IKEA finally sent me the pole to go with the broom head after two months of chasing. I was so, incredibly happy when it came. I can feel that the day I stop complaining is close, but until then. Here we go again...

The culprit on the chopping board this time is Capital One.

Two months ago the Boy and I applied for secured credit cards. As avid readers will remember, the Boy passed the checks first time, but I didn't. After much waiting, we were told that we had both been approved, our funds had cleared and we had our cards in our hands.

We both called up to activate our cards and were passed directly to the fraud team, as there was suspected fraud on our cards. How is this so when all that happened was:
1) Capital One popped the cards in the post;
2) The postman delivered them; and
3) We opened the envelopes?

Anyway, I won't bore you rigid with all the details, but to summarise, I have called the Fraud Team about eight times and on each occasion recounted my story to - on average - three people; tried to contact Heather in the special team of two people that hold the special key to our file; been told that she only works until 3.30pm; been told that her colleagues have tried calling her, leaving her messages, emailing and instant messaging her; faxed her all our personal documents twice (NO, WE DO NOT USE EMAIL AT CAPITAL ONE!); received a BILL for services to the tune of $28; been told that I can't cancel my account until they have resolved the fraud issue; been put on hold for at least an hour of my life as each of the representatives 'get a handle on my case' i.e. read through the reams of notes that are on my file forever labelled 'pain-in-the-arse-snooty-cow; and told them I am livid and disgusted with their service at least three times.

After my final call lasting 46 minutes today, my card was finally activated and the $28 annual membership fee waived, after I made an official complaint. I am such a lucky girl.

And the Boy's card? He's on his own, as they wouldn't tell me squat. 

Foot-in-mouth

To those of you who know about the Boy's epic foot-in-mouth syndrome, he had a corker today. It will go down in history and is still making me laugh out loud 4 hours and 16 minutes later.

It was a classic case of the Boy being super sweet, kind and considerate, but making a cringe-worthy mistake. How does he do it?

I'm afraid I promised I wouldn't tell, so there's no point asking. Sorry!

yakiniku west

last night we went to yakiniku west just a block from our place. we had to put our shoes in the cubbyholes upon entry and there were toilet slippers to use in the loo. natsukashiiiiii/ brings back memories! the boy prefers gyukaku though, apparently. in other news, my poor mother-in-law's friend has had a tough ride in the States. a romantic sounding journey from Florida to NYC by train through the storms and now no boats to Ellis island or the statue of liberty because of the storms. now the trains have recommended. oh dear...

we are tourists

what an amazing touristy weekend. after chatting to Helen on Skype and seeing her mini bump we set off in the sunshine for some lobster roll at Luke's. oh my, so succulent and delicious. and a brioche roll makes all sandwiches A OK. we went all over Brooklyn heights, along the beautiful promenade with the amazing view, down towards dumbo and then along Brooklyn bridge. I fought my lovely mother-in-law as she tried to buy me a dress. fortunately, I won, though she'll have to make me a baked Alaska on Wednesday.

bottomless mimosas at brunch

I really need to learn that as good as bottomless cocktails with brunch sounds, by 6pm, the evil hangover kicks in and I am useless for the rest of the day. I must remember for next time.

just short of a whole pizza pie

what a great day. cumin spiced lamb with hand pulled noodles at xian famous foods. then blueberry strudel with a cuppa tea. then the birch tried to convince me to buy three twenty dollar rib eye steaks for tea. we are aiming to go to the speakeasy PDT for when it opened at 6pm, but in true Thirlway style we were 15 minutes late (perhaps I've caught the bug). so we went to cien fuegos this amazing, camp bar, where OK had a delicious Irish blood, English heart cocktail at their gin palace. PDT still didn't have a table for us an hour later, so we went elsewhere until they could finally fit us in at 8pm. after we'd gone into the scruffy hot dog joint and dialled 1 in the old school phone box, we were let into the laid-back speakeasy, where we later emerged, hungry for pizza. so much for our fancy steaks. we ran through storms towards crab and artichoke pizzas. after wringing out my dress and wiping myself down, I treated myself to the most delicious pizza slices. the artichoke pie might be the perfect pizza, but the crab just tastes so good. what an amazing touristy day. a big thanks to my mother-in-law, Mrs T senior for making us take time out to enjoy our new home town.

more than one friend

we're having a mini housewarming on Saturday 15th and we have 17 people coming - two of those people do include us, but in any case, huzzah!

The Amazing Keys

So I've just posted some pictures from our holiday that I thought were either random or cool. For those you that don't know, I'm rubbish at taking photos. I'm in the don't-wreck-the-moment-by-taking-photos-and-oh-I-hate-being-held up-by-a-group-of-people-all-taking-the-same-shot-from-different-angles camp. Consequently, my photos are all a bit inconsequently, but you get the gist that I had a good time.

Confusion reigned at Tampa airport when the woman at the gate told us that we would be making a pitstop in Fort Meyers, which is a three hour drive from Tampa. So when the captain announced that we would be landing shortly, we weren't certain whether it was Fort Meyers or Key West, as we had been travelling for over an hour. I was desperately hoping it was Fort Meyers, as it was lashing it down with rain and grey as the UK. Alas, it was our holiday destination of sunny Florida keys.

We went to get our hire car and seeing my forlorn face, the rental guy gave us a complimentary upgrade to a Mustang convertible. Great except the forcast for the rest of the week was for thunderstorms and more rain.

Everything was grey and rainy. Key West was grey and rainy. The Seven Mile Bridge was grey and rainy and Islamorada was grey and rainy when we arrived, an hour and a half later. As we were leaving our 'efficiency' - I have no idea where that comes from, but it was essentially a studio with kitchen facilities - to go for dinner, I noticed that it had stopped raining and that there was a pink hue to the sky. I walked down to the waterfront and saw the most amazing sunset and view. Our 'resort' (consisting of 15 rooms or so) had a cute dock and waterfront with tidal pool and tiki bar, beyond which, the clouds, sun and sky were putting on quite a show. It was all pretty breath-taking.

We went to Ma's Fish Camp for dinner and had delicious mangrove snapper and our first of many key lime pies. Yum yum.

Day two's forecast was the same as the day before, though Key West seemed to be dry whilst overcast. We drove back the 75 miles to Key West and got caught in Marathon in the most almighty storm. The Boy and I were properly petrified, much as we were when we tried to drive to the Grand Canyon and the snow descended on us.

We pushed on through and arrived at a beautifully sunny and dry Key West. And boy is it quaint. The houses are lovely old style conch ones, with upstairs verandahs and wooden shutters. Against a crystal blue sky. palm trees and the shining sun, you can't help but be smiley.

The rain had left its toll, however, and the Boy and I had to wade, literally, through about a foot of water in places. As we were walking towards the southernmost point, a school bus driver asked us to stop and pose in the water for a photo of us wading through the streets.

The following two days cleared up beautifully and we were shown what Islamorada had to offer. We visited the mangroves and India Key Island on two kayaking trips, during which, the Boy saw a croc in the water about a foot from our plastic kayak. Fortunately, I had warned him not to tell me if he saw one unless he thought we could make a quick getaway - he did not.

Our last day was spent in Key West where we visited Ernest Hemginway's house and saw his 45 cats. He was a randy bugger. Key West is lovely and is undersold in reviews. It's not just a place to get bevved up, but has a great laidback vibe.

Getting on our flight back to NYC was a great example. I have never had such a pleasant experience at an airport. City in London is easy and quick; Beauvais in Paris is comically small; but Key West was just nice. There was even a motivational poster up in the tat shop by the gates, encouraging folk to give up their boring careers to follow their dreams, or indeed just to jack it all in to move to Key West.

I would very much like that.

random photos of our holiday

Some random photos that I thought were funny or cool.

coming back to new York

just home now after a fantastic week away. I'll post properly once I've sorted out the pile of laundry, got some food in, and re- acclimatised to the noise and car horns. coming back was weird. the Boy and I both felt strange. pleased to be back but not feeling 100% like we're home. also pleased that our holiday isn't completely over. I feel like we're at our holiday home. it feels different to when I cam e back from Chicago. that felt more like coming home, though I think that was because I was coming back to my boy. nonetheless, am loving sitting in my British pants, can of becks, and feeling the breeze through the windows. plus my own bed is calling me...