Monday 14th September

We went to the gym early, then walked to The Flame diner for breakfast. No rain today. But there seemed to be more crazy people on the streets—not sure I would feel safe walking alone. Husband told me his work schedule for the next two days. Felt stressed. Although it will be good to have a couple of days to study, it will be lonely, and we will be on different time zones most of the time (actually, Husband will be on two time zones, because he has early UK meetings online and late US meetings in person). I will switch my clock back to UK time, and plan to get up at 2am I think.

We walked down the island. The first part is busy, needed to watch where we were walking, avoiding people, waiting for traffic, not much space for looking around. We dipped into Grand Central Station, just because we haven’t been inside since we lived here nearly 30 years ago, mingled with the commuters, saw the central clock, the shiny floor, the staircase from a Mafia shootout in The Untouchables. There is something exciting, busy, intense about the city. I was also very aware that NYC has very few public washrooms, so I was keen to arrive in a quieter part, where there would be nice cafes and facilities. We passed some parks, but I don’t find these to be pleasant, they tend to be grubby squares with litter and homeless people—not somewhere that’s nice to sit.

Gradually the mood of the city changes as you walk further south. There are fewer people, more homes and fewer shops (not as many flashing signs). The buildings are mostly red brick, less high. It feels quieter, cleaner, less stressful. Our walking slowed too, we stopped rushing, looked at the streets we were passing. As we arrived on the edge of Little Italy we looked for somewhere to stop. Went into a cafe, Bakery in Lafayette and ordered coffee and pastries. It was clean and comfortable and cool. Little Italy was busy with workmen preparing for a festival, lots of temporary structures being assembled. We avoided planks of wood and reversing trucks and made it unscathed into China Town. Saw the red Chinese lanterns hanging across the street, the photographs of bright food on the menus, the shops full of lucky waving cats and oriental tat. I was tired now, it felt like we had been walking for a long time. We ordered an Uber and went back to the hotel.

My next two days were more lonely. Husband was working on both time zones—so waking early for 5am meetings online with UK boards, then attending meetings and dinners in person with US boards. I tried to work, and went for walks round the city on my own, but it’s less fun without company, and I worried about walking in front of traffic and getting lost. I ate a lot of rubbish and felt lonely—the whole city seemed to be full of couples and people rushing to important meetings and I was detached, wandering on my own, not quite daring to sit in a cafe or pause in a park. Probably being tired didn’t help. Flew home overnight on Wednesday. Fun few days.

Thanks for reading. Take care.
Love, Anne

PS. Completely unconnected, but do you know what the two-hands emoji means? Some people use it to mean ‘praying’ but saw on Insta that it means ‘high five’. Or ‘thanks.’ Seems to mean different things to different people. An online search was no help at all! What do you use it for?