End of Summer...

It's amazing really.

The Labour Day Holiday weekend (this weekend just gone) is supposed to mark the end of summer. So yesterday was supposedly the beginning of Autumn, and like clockwork it turned grey, chilly and wet - infact in rained non stop aaaaall day!

Today's much the same, chilly (well, 17 degrees which is 10 degrees colder than it was about a week ago!), grey and foggy...

I'm not going to get the wolley cardigan's out just yet, but I think Autumn's on it's way.

Dumbo...

This afternoon we went for a little walk around Brooklyn Bridge Park and Dumbo...

We'd gone to do some canoeing because they were doing free canoe and kayak rentals by the river, but we couldn't seem to find where they were doing it (we later found out I'd taken us in the opposite direction), but we did find a little park that we'd not been to before, right under the Manhattan Bridge.

 

It had a lovely view of the Brooklyn Bridge and the skyline and there were some nice big rocks through the trees to sit on.

It was a bit of a swizz not finding the canoes, but they do canoe rentals on the other side of the river, so we could go and do that instead - maybe before the end of the summer, or next year. It wasn't really ideal canoeing weather anyway, it's a bit cloudy and veeeeeeery muggy. Oh well, next time.

It was so nice walking around Dumbo too, the shops there are in such fantastic buildings, converted warehouses with big glass fronts, they're all rather swanky. It's one of those areas that we love to go to but hardly ever visit because it's a bit out of the way, so it was great to go there again today.

We've been having a bit of a lazy long weekend really - well, apart from finishing off the decorating (pictures coming soon) in the apartment. It's been lovely though.

Our Idiot Brother...

We went into town yesterday for a little smackeral at Max Brenner's (or Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory as it should be called!) and to see the new film Our Idiot Brother...

It's got Paul Rudd and Zooey Deschannel in it, and a couple of other familiar faces and I think it's written or directed by the same person who did Little Miss Sunshine.

It's a great film and is very funny in parts, it was a weeee bit slow to get going but it didn't matter because it was just a nice film to watch. Paul Rudd's brilliant in it, and I had major beard envy the whole way through the film.

When it comes out back home I would definitely recommend going to see it, it's be a great Sunday afternoon film.

Bagpipes & Beatboxing...

Something new for Union Square yesterday evening...

I wonder if they're available for Burn's Night?

Dr. Playground...

We saw this very odd and quite sinister looking van by Washington Square Park. I looked it up on google and it turns out Dr. Playground is an official branch of the New York City Parks Department and this is just a very old van...

I think they need a rebrand!

Peanut Butter & Co...

During our little walk at lunch time we came across the Peanut Butter & Company down by Washington Square Park...

We'd seen their products in the shops before, but we'd never been to their little shop, but we're very glad we did, they do some very delicious sandwiches!

They have a pretty big menu, with all sorts of variations of sandwiches on, from a satay chicken (which Abi had) to an Elvis (which I had) that's got peanut butter, banana, honey and bacon in a grilled sandwich, to a regular Peanut Butter and Jam sandwich.

It's a little place inside, with maybe 10 small tables squeezed in and a little shop selling all their different types of peanut butter and their own range of jams...

I didn't know there could be so many different type of peanut butter, but they had about 12 on sale!

They had some brilliant vintage adverts on the wall for things like Wonder Bread and Peanut Butter, and they had some lovely old tins on shelves as decoration. 

I'm not sure we'll be going there regularly - we won't be able to fit in there if we keep eating their sandwiches, but it was incredibly delicious as a little treat. It wasn't all unhealthy though, the gave you a little bag of carrot sticks to go with your sandwich... so it was a healthy meal really, banana and carrots - 2 of my 5 a day!

Good Start...

It's been a pretty great start to September weatherwise.

We had a loooooooovely stroll to Washington Square Park this lunchtime, we almost forgot we had to go back to work!

Not a Cloud In The Sky...

Pretty big contrast to the weekend!

The weather has been absolutely amazing so far this week, the perfect temperature, the perfect about of little breeze, beautiful sunshine and not a cloud in the sky...

I have a feeling it's going to be a pretty nice Autumn.

Sunset After the Storm...

It's been so so windy this afternoon, oddly enough it's been windier than it has been all weekend and the little trees outside our apartment are having to try very hard to stay upright.

The clouds are still in the air, but they're clearing, and when I went up on the roof to take another look at Manhattan at sunset, things were back to their beautiful self...

Phew!

We're Still Standing...

So, Irene seems to have been and gone! Well, in New York at least, she's now making her way up to New England but she seems to have calmed down a bit.

Luckily the storms weren't as bad as they could have been, there was some flooding in Brooklyn and Manhattan and there have been a lot of trees blown down, but the waters are subsiding, the rain has stopped and the wind seems to be dying down a lot.

The hurricane got down-graded to a tropical storm, but there were then tornado warnings around the city and then in upstate New York there was a little earthquake!

It's great that no major major damage has been done, but we're both feeling a bit short-changed almost - it sounds like an odd thing to say, but it was all a bit of an anti-climax, in Bedstuy at least.

It was amazing seeing the shots of an empty Grand Central Station and Times Square and it was exciting watching the news and being here when it all happened. I think there'll still be some disruption in the following couple of days, waiting for the roads, bridges and tunnels to reopen and waiting for the subways to get up and running again - but I'm sure New York will be back to normal before long.

We're going to have some celebratory Hurrican Hotdogs for lunch! 

Cloud City...

This was taken about hald an hour ago, it's a bit of a different view from the roof than usual...

Somewhere, in the middle of all this cloud is the Empire State Building!

I know I said I wouldn't go up on the roof, but I waited until the wind and rain had stopped. It was totally safe.

Come on Irene...

It's been a bit of a nerve-racking 24 hours, watching the news, hearing Mayor Bloomberg give a LOT of speeches, ordering the evacutation of certain areas of the city, telling everyone to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

We've got ourselves as ready as we can. We've cooked some food incase the power goes out and we can't use the oven, we've stocked the fridge with water, we've got cans of tuna in the cupboard and we're going to fill the bath with water this evening (that's something they've told us to do incase the water gets shut off). We've got candles, crisps and playing cards ready incase the power goes out too.

The whole subway system has been completely shut down for the first time in history, none of the buses are running, the ferries have all stopped. It feels a bit like we're watching a disaster movie on the telly whenever the news is on, BUT there's a lot of positive thinking happening too. There's a lot of 'We're New Yorkers, we've been through worse, and we'll get through this' and the people in the shops are all saying 'stay safe' and 'take care in the storm'. So there's a definite sense of community coming out of all of this.

There are some folks who seem to be ignoring the warnings though, especially down at the Rockaways - there have been some 10-12 foot waves down there and some people have out surfing rather than evacuating... Hopefully they'll have seen sense soon and get somewhere safe.

There have been some pretty spooky shots on the news of desserted streets of Manhattan, empty pavements and roads with just police cars driving down them. Times Square looks like a ghost town, with just the occasional taxi driving down. I have no doubt there'll be some impressive images coming through on the news over the next 24 hours...

I was thinking about the crazy weather New York's had over the passed year. In the last 12 months there's been a tornado, a monsterous blizzard, a record breaking heatwave and now there's a hurricane on it's way! I wonder what could be next... even within the passed week we've had an earthquake and a hurricane!

Hopefully it'll won't be as bad as their saying it could be, and I'm sure our neighbourhood won't be as badly effected as other parts of Brooklyn, like Coney Island, or parts of Manhattan... I suppose we'll just have to wait and see how it all goes.

Soooooooooooooo, just to let you all know that things over here are fine, they might get a little bit Winnie The Pooh and a Blustery Day tomorrow morning, but the storm should have passed by this time tomorrow and then the forecast is for beautiful sunshine again!

We're going to watch The Day After Tomorrow now, to get some 'end of the world' tips!

Watertower...

Beautiful Friday Evening...

As I write this, the rain is coming down pretty hard and we're still a good 11 hours away from when the hurricane is suppose to hit the city. The weather last night couldn't have been any more different though, it was the most beautiful evening (albeit a bit hot and sticky).

We went for a walk after work down to Washington Square Park to enjoy the sunshine...

As we got closer to the arch we could hear piano music, then as we got into the park we saw that a man was playing a grand piano right under the arch...

He was playing a lovely version of 'Here Comes The Sun' - it seemed very fitting.

Lots of people were out in the park, enjoying the sunshine before the storm arrives. It certainly didn't feel like a hurricane was on it's way.

 Washington Square Park is always a great place to go to unwind after work (not that it's been a hectic week, it's been a great week, but we always need to de-work), and it looked especially stunning on Friday evening.

It felt like one of those great New Yorky evenings. I loved it.

Calm Before The Storm?

Well, it's all over the news - Irene's on her way!

Not that you'd be able to tell by going outside today though. It's a beautifully sunny and hot day, the only clouds in the sky are fluffy white ones and those not even the slightest breeze.

I wasn't feeling too bad about the whole hurricane situation last night, but I made the mistake of watching the news this morning and now I'm feeling a bit more nervous about it. It's a sort of excited nervousness, but my main concern is that if the power goes out, we've got a LOT of meat in the freezer! We might have to have an indoor BBQ.

I think we're going to go and do some provision shopping tonight or tomorrow (chocolate, crisps and booze probably!) and batten down the hatches ready for Sunday. 

As long as we've got internet, I'll keep you posted!

White Knuckle Drive...

I had my very first Manhattan driving experience yesterday!

I had to drive to Walmart to get some samples to shoot, and as taxis out to New Jersey are so expensive I had to hire a Zipcar and go myself. I don't think I've ever been so nervous driving somewhere before, apart from when I first started driving...

 Getting from Brooklyn to New Jersey was fine, no problems, just hop onto the Manhattan Bridge, drive down Canal Street through China Town and just follow signs for the Holland Tunnel... so I was VERY relieved and felt good after doing the first leg.

Driving over the Manhattan Bridge was an incredible exprience, driving over on such a beautiful morning, sitting high up in the drivers seat (I got a 4x4!) and looking over to my left seeing the amazing Manhattan skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge looking so magnificent... I was breath-taking. I just wish I could have taken a photo or videoed it for you.

The trouble started when I got into New Jersey, the ring roads and turnpikes and freeways are a NIGHTMARE! It was supposed to take 30 minutes to get to Walmart... it took me 2 HOURS!

I tried to stay calm at first, but I was effing and jeffing a lot by the end, the signage was awful and the roads just seemed to make no sense - it definitely needs a certain transportation civil engineer to come over here and sort it out!

The journey back was a little more successful, I think it only took an hour!

When I got back into Manhattan I got to drive near Times Square, by Madison Square Garden, down by Macy's and down 5th Avenue, it was amazing! It was incredibly tense with cyclists darting out, pedestrians just walking out, taxis cutting you up and delivery vans just stopping dead, but it was amazing.

The views weren't bad either...

As I drove down 7th Avenue and then 5th Avenue I saw loads of people standing in groups right outside their office buildings. At first I thought there was someone famous there (when I saw the first cluster), then I thought it was because it was lunch or because they were all having a cigarette break. When I was in a traffic jam I quickly checked Twitter and saw lots of people saying 'Earthquake!'

So all the people had been evacuated from their buildings! I'd not felt anything, and I couldn't see any sign of damage, but I read 'BREAKING NEWS - 5.8 Earthquake in DC, effects felt in NYC'.

When I got to our building no-one was outside (probably because we don't have an evacuation proceedure!) and when I asked about it they said they didn't feel a thing. I think the taller buildings felt it more, I suppose the higher up the more you'd notice a wobble?

Hopefully there won't be any bigger quakes any time soon.

Lights, Camera, ACTION...

Myrtle Avenue had been turned into a film set yesterday morning.

Just down from our apartment a section of the road had been blocked off and there were crew members all over the place with all sorts of gear. Then smack bang in the middle of the road was a Camera on a little trolley thing...

I lingered long enough to see them shout 'Rolling' and 'Action' and to see a little stunt - a cyclist darted out into the road and a car had to swerve quickly to avoid hitting him, the car then almost crashed into the front of a shop!

Apparently it was all part of the filming of something called the Challenging Man (or something like that) which'll be on the telly soon, so not a blockbuster movie, but still exciting!

It's all happening in Bedstuy.

The Museum of Unnatural History...

The last stop on our little Washington adventure was the Museum of Unnatural History!

It's another fantastic concept from the 826 Group, who created the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Store and the San Francisco Pirate Supply Store, as well as a few others dotted around America. This particular shop is dedicated to all things weird and wonderful and completely made up...

Like the Owlephant!

Just like the Superhero Store, there are secret classrooms at the back of the shop and all proceeds from the shop go to fund the writing workshops that 826 run through-out the country. Also just like the other stores, there are some brilliantly clever things for sale, all perfectly themed and packaged...

 From Unicorn Tears (glittery goo) to Cave Painting Kits (pavement chalk), every item was so creative and funny. Most of the items were empty jars or tins, just like they are in Brooklyn, but it's a very clever way to get people to make donations.

We made a wee donation and are now the proud owners of a Koala Containment Unit (or a big glass jar!), that's now sitting proudly in the apartment.

My other favourite item for sale, which I thought was so clever was the Formaldehyde...

They had for levels of Dehyde - Formal, Semi-Formal, Business Casual and Informal... BRILLIANT!

The shop was set up a bit like a museum, with funny skeletons on display, dinosaurs peering round corners and stuff animals with funny names hanging upside down from the ceiling.

The colourful wheel was a Wheel of Answers, you ask it a question, spin it and it'd land on an answer, like 'Just because' or 'Have a cup of tea'.

As all the 826 shops are there to help budding writers, there's always books for sale, in this shop there was even a little reading area, in a cave complete with mammoth skin rugs...

The whole shop was so brilliantly thought out and really inspiring. The 826 Group are having so much fun with what they do and it's proving to be incredibly successful. It's definitely a 'I wish I'd thought of that' kind of thing.

The last thing that we spotted, just as we were leaving was the Customer Complaint Form...

Perfect!

Segs & The City - The Movie...

(Make sure the sound's turned on!)

Segs & The City...

Last time we were in Washington, we saw a load of people on a Segway tour and we both reeeeeeeeally wanted to have a go. So on Sunday, we did! We went of a Segway Safari around Washington!

We'd found a tour operator appropriately called 'Segs in the City' who did a number of different tours each day, so we booked up the 90 minute monument tour...

After a little tutorial we were able to go for a practice around the courtyardy bit before we hit the roads...

 

It was a wee bit tricky to get used to at first, you have to stand up straight and distribute your weight evenly, whilst staying relaxed and loose. It was a little bit like being on a Wii Fit board on wheels really, you lean forward to go forward, you lean back to go back, you try and get your weight in the middle to stop, and you just turn the handles bars to go either way.

It'd take too long to get the hang of it, and then we were off!

The tour was great, and we went passed some of the famous monuments that we saw last time were in Washington, but we were really pleased that we saw a lot of stuff that we missed last time too...

 We went all over, on the main roads, down the mall, round the reservoir, through the park, it was great! We managed to get a bit of speed up when there weren't any pedestrians around, and there were some sweet ramps to go up to get onto the pavement too.

 Luckily the weather was OK - it was very humid, and not incredibly sunny, but the rain stayed away for the most part. There was a brief moment when the emergency ponchos came out though...

Because we were in a small group (just four of us) it was nice and relaxed and we didn't have to wait for people, although the other couple we were with were a bit bloody slow, so we kept hanging back to give them room and then zooming up to catch them.

We were able to stop at some points for photos and to have a wee rest. Although riding Segways isn't really exercise, you do feel pretty tense for the first little while and you're constantly trying the balance and leaning forward and back, and standing up the whole time - so it got a bit achy towards the end. Even our guide was having a rest.

We stopped off at The Franklin Roosevelt Memorial, which is the world's biggest memorial! Although you can't see it from driving passed because it's not tall, it's big and flat. It's outside, and it's made up of lots of different 'rooms' but it has no roof, so it's a bit like a maze...

 We had a little mooch around it for a few minutes before hopping back on the segways for the final stretch.

By this time we'd caught up with the larger group, so there was about 10 of us all in a row as we zipped down the main road back to the post office where the tour began. The Post Office Pavillion is a very lovely looking building...

I don't think it's a post office anymore, it's full of shops and places to eat now, but it still looks veyr impressive on the outside.

Then our time was up, nearly 2 hours later, we arrived back to the start and received our very own Segs In The City 'Segsy Legs' Licences! 

 

So now, next time we go to Washington (or any city that Segs In The City operates) we can hire the Segways and take them out on our own, without the tour guide!!!

If only Segways were legal in New York.