next stop manchester (again)…
Hello! And apologies for tardiness but it’s been a bloody cold week as well as a mad busy one, and finding the time to sit around in front of the laptop rather than moving about getting on with the odds and sods now that the pre-Christmas run up is well and truly underway has been a less than tempting prospect even when I have had the free time, which wasn’t often. Anyway, I am resolutely back – yay!
Obviously the worst of the cold snap was perfectly timed to coincide with my second and probably final outcall of the year on Saturday afternoon, notable in this case because it was walking distance away from both flat and home. As anybody who looked out of the window around 3.30pm will have deduced it was not walking weather however, and a visit to first Sainsbury’s (tea and scone in the cafe followed by a much-needed Longley Farm yoghurt restock) and then Tesco (token couple of nanas and a paper but mostly to get out of the snow) to break up the journey back was needed. Brrr.
It also didn’t help that a week previously in New York it was mild enough to watch the Veteran’s Day parade then go shopping, walk back via Madison Square Park and eat Shackburgers outside at nine pm in just a jumper and scarf, and I can report that I tested the theory thoroughly. Sadly, New York was all over in a flash and far too quickly, thus I will be back sooner rather than later at the start of March – details on request! Lessons have been learned (and so they should always be), amongst them that trying to cram three days worth of Manhattan into one day makes your feet hurt; whilst I’ll certainly never complain about being too busy, covering Central Park (including Zoo), the High Line, shopping in Chelsea, Soho and Union Square as well as a poke around Chinatown on foot in a day – even allowing for lunch and a lengthy moon around in Dean & DeLuca plus a final coffee and cheesecake before heading for the Airtrain – is punishing stuff by anybody’s standards, so rather than cut the numerous very warm welcomes short, next time I’ll be around for most of the week.
I have also learned that I am far less clumsy than I thought, having by some miracle managed to convey not one but four glass Christmas tree ornaments from Macy’s all the way home in my tote bag completely unharmed, despite no more than a bit of tissue paper and a thin rustly carrier bag (which are still free in New York, and mine will be coveted) around them; via Gatwick, St Pancras, Kings Cross and York stations and finally home. Pictures will follow once the tree is up, and as it’s my first Christmas of being at home until after Boxing Day in seven years that day won’t be far away, although even my most enthusiastic efforts can’t compare with Macy’s fabulous Christmas department which even on November 12th was sparkly, glittery and tree-ey enough to be completely disorientating, although not in any bad way. And Santa arrives tomorrow…
As Santa takes up residence some three and a half thousand miles away, I will be forging ahead to Manchester for an evening of nostalgic jumping about in the company of Public Enemy and The Prodigy – woohoo! For anybody who didn’t notice, this means that the next incalls will be Monday provided I’m still in one piece, which isn’t as far fetched as it sounds given that the last time I was in the same room as Braintree’s finest a broken collarbone was the result. With this, the fact that my balance hasn’t improved in the slightest over the last twenty years plus my advanced age in mind, I have resolved to stay well away from speaker stacks and as I’d also planned a stroll around the city centre and a look around the shops on Saturday (having forgotten at the time that it’s the Black Friday weekend) it’s probably as well not to let my guard down at all until I’m safely home, fed and cosy on the settee in front of The Hunt.
Onto the coming weeks and the usual Christmas page is under construction, but as promised I will be installed comfortably in Scarborough for the duration and all that’s really left to be decided are the hours; there may be a few later starts and later evenings, and London follows from the 27th for a change! I didn’t want to miss out on the capital’s festive stuff altogether and apparently nor do quite a few punters of my acquaintance – Victoria is (provisionally) the venue and full info will be announced when I know it, which I’m guessing will be around the time the Christmas TV guides turn up in the paper shop. I’m not making up milestones as I go along; in our house that, along with the first Coopland’s brandy mince pie of the year, is a real one.
Best of luck to anybody going shopping in the real outside world over the next 72 hours. Update soon, and back next week!
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