Welcome to America eh!? Today was a strange day of mixed emotions, somewhere between optimism, intrigue, fear and excitement. That Heathrow Terminal 5 is fucking massive, but nowhere near as big as that JFK..... immense place. After a long (but top notch) flight, poor old Small Irish got the full U.S Immigration treatment (bar rubber glove I must add), ending up with no less than three officials scrutinising her reasons for being here! Took the Subway into Manhattan and stood out like a sore thumb amongst them New Yorkers. To say I felt vulnerable was an understatement; carrying $300 odd in my pocket, a £600 camera, 400 fags in a see-through bag, passports and all worldy goods....fucking hell , spot the tourist! Anyhow, finally got to Newark and caught tantalising glimpses of New York’s skyline.....much to be discovered in the week ahead methinks. Ventured out of the hotel for half an hour and did what any true Brit would do: live home from home. We headed straight for McDonalds (there’s one under our flat in the RM1) before retiring back to watch Friends and other repeats we always watch on English tele. Fuck it, after the looks of “what on Earth are you doing round here?” from the extremely culturally diverse community in downtown Newark (and even one joker who laughed at me and said "hello" through sarcasm carrying aforementioned look), I needed a quick blast of home comforts, even though I’d only been here five minutes. Meeting Small Irish’s Uncle tomorrow who’s lived out here for a long time, who’ll show us the ropes. That’s handy, because I feel a little against them after a long day, so both looking forward to that. I wonder what happened in Eastenders tonight? I’ll have to get the BBC iPlayer rocking and rolling. By the way, those that called and texted today; don’t expect much more of that over the next month as I’ve already run up £15 from a small handful of texts and phonecalls I've sent! I see Obama and his wife are over in our fine land in the minute. Kind of negates the pathetic title of this rather narcissistic blog. Laters.Friday, 27 March 2009
Day 1: Newark, NJ
Welcome to America eh!? Today was a strange day of mixed emotions, somewhere between optimism, intrigue, fear and excitement. That Heathrow Terminal 5 is fucking massive, but nowhere near as big as that JFK..... immense place. After a long (but top notch) flight, poor old Small Irish got the full U.S Immigration treatment (bar rubber glove I must add), ending up with no less than three officials scrutinising her reasons for being here! Took the Subway into Manhattan and stood out like a sore thumb amongst them New Yorkers. To say I felt vulnerable was an understatement; carrying $300 odd in my pocket, a £600 camera, 400 fags in a see-through bag, passports and all worldy goods....fucking hell , spot the tourist! Anyhow, finally got to Newark and caught tantalising glimpses of New York’s skyline.....much to be discovered in the week ahead methinks. Ventured out of the hotel for half an hour and did what any true Brit would do: live home from home. We headed straight for McDonalds (there’s one under our flat in the RM1) before retiring back to watch Friends and other repeats we always watch on English tele. Fuck it, after the looks of “what on Earth are you doing round here?” from the extremely culturally diverse community in downtown Newark (and even one joker who laughed at me and said "hello" through sarcasm carrying aforementioned look), I needed a quick blast of home comforts, even though I’d only been here five minutes. Meeting Small Irish’s Uncle tomorrow who’s lived out here for a long time, who’ll show us the ropes. That’s handy, because I feel a little against them after a long day, so both looking forward to that. I wonder what happened in Eastenders tonight? I’ll have to get the BBC iPlayer rocking and rolling. By the way, those that called and texted today; don’t expect much more of that over the next month as I’ve already run up £15 from a small handful of texts and phonecalls I've sent! I see Obama and his wife are over in our fine land in the minute. Kind of negates the pathetic title of this rather narcissistic blog. Laters.