One, Two, Cha Cha Cha

I went along to watch Rachel compete in the Inter Varsity Dance Competition seeing as it was only a couple of miles away from me. I stayed a few hours and watched her fighting her way through the heats for the Waltz and the Quickstep. They were doing well when I left - good posture and powerful movement really enhanced their waltz.

Unfortunately, I'm having trouble uploading the video I took so only have these blurry photo's to show.

I have put the videos up on Youtube

Purple Book Award 2009

13th Weigh in - Day 134 - 13st 10lbs - 87kg

Notwithstanding that I have yet to finish it, with another 350 pages still to read,I can announce that the inaugural winner of the Purple Book Award goes to The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell. It is hands down the best book I have read this year. I bought this and started reading it when the hardback came out in April. I got about half way through its 1,000 pages before I decided to put it to one side as I had a big stack of Library books that I wanted to read. Its the wartime memoirs of the ficitious SS Officer, Maximilian Aue who is currently taking a tour of the death camps researching how to maximise output for the war effort.

I have a couple of other cheery books on the go, a non fiction from the library - White Cargo by Don Jordan and Michael Welsh - "The Forgotten History of Britains white slaves in America" and I Spied a Pale Horse by Mark Timlin yet another novel set in an empty, post pandemic UK. Nice and Christmassy.

Another 3 lbs lost since the last weigh in, not bad at all as I had a night on the town at the weekend. Consuming 6.5 pints of beer which works out at about 1500 extra calories.

Back to work, ugh

12th Weigh in - Day 124 - 13st 13lbs - 88kg

Lost an amazing 6lbs while on holiday - all that walking round the big apple eating salad sandwiches and big (genetically modified)apples has paid off. Will stay on 2 bars a day plus food for a couple more weeks and then I'll probably reduce or stop the diet bars.

Also took my measurements - arms chest and thighs are the same as last measurement 5 weeks ago, but another inch has gone from the waist and inch and a half off the hips.

The Met

I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art via a walk through Central Park and spent several hours looking at all the treasures, until I reached museum overload, having seen just a fraction of their exhibits.

I am resting my aching feet and back for a bit until Nick and Dayna get back from work, then off out for a goodbye meal out at a local Thai restaurant.

Coney Island

I took the subway from Manhattan out to Coney Island in the morning and was pleased to see it was as I thought from the movies, "Warriors" in particular, a faded seaside resort. It still has a few of the old rides there but everything was shut for the season. I walked up and down the boardwalk to Brighton beach. Russian is the first language in this area, I heard hardly any English being spoken during my walk along the beach. The weather was nice enough to sit on the beach and read but, regrettably not quite warm enough for me to strip down and show off the new slimline me to the Babushkas on the Boardwalk.

While I was there I had a look around the aquarium, which, like the Island was a bit run down and not very impressive for such a large City.

In the afternoon I headed back to Manhattan and watched "Zombieland".

Lower Manhattan

I had to drop the car back in Manhattan for 830 am so set off about 7 am and handed it back at about 8am.

I then walked to Battery Park, the southernmost tip of Manhattan via Chelsea, Greenwich Village and the site of the World Trade Centre.

I took the ferry from Battery Park to Liberty Island and walked around the base of the Statue of Liberty then back on a ferry to Ellis Island where I spent a couple of hours looking around the immigration museum.

My return walk route in the afternoon took in Wall Street, South Street Seaport which gave a good view of the Brooklyn Bridge, Chinatown and SoHo. A lot of walking done today - I guess about 10 miles

Road Trip Day 7 - 8/11/09

I headed a short distance north to Millbrook and stopped at an old, stainless steel diner for a coffee. I then drove to Wings Castle, met the money grubbing owner who said it was closed for tours until midday but still wanted 10 bucks to look round the outside. As I was stood outside it anyway, I said tata and got back in my car.

I moved on to the Woodbury Common outlet stores for another splurge and then drove back to Nick and Dayna's house. I have to return the car to Manhattan by 8.30 in the morning, so have one final battle with the commuters.

Road Trip Day 6 - 7/11/09

After a cup of black coffee I headed on with the drive, having a quick look at Woodstock, then a look around the historic stockade area of Kingston and a look at another old town, New Paltz.

In the afternoon I went to the Minnewaska state park which was beautiful - scenic views and a walk around a forested lake with sandstone cliffs.

I stayed at a motel just outside Poughkeepsie. The motelier told me there was a nice walk down the road over a bridge over the Hudson that had only just opened in October. I managed to squeeze that in before dusk. It's the worlds longest footbridge - the Hudson is half a mile wide at this point and the bridge is about a mile long, it used to be a railroad bridge. I just had enough time to cross it, turn around and recross before they closed it at dusk.

Road Trip Day 5 - 06/11/09

I drove into the City and left the car in all day parking to explore Toronto on foot. As it was a nice clear (but cold, being on the shore of Lake Ontario) day, I went up the CN Tower.

I then joined a tour of the Campbell House Museum - just me and 1 other person on the tour. It's the oldest remaining building in Toronto, built in the 1850's by a Judge. The house was saved from demolition in the 70's by being moved to its present location. I didn't find a great deal of tourist sites of interest to me in Toronto so just ambled and gawked the rest of the afternoon and decided to head back into the USA by a night drive to the Catskills area.

I left Toronto at 5.30pm with all the commuters and stopped at Niagara Falls about 7.30 to watch a movie "Paranormal Activity". It was ok, not brilliant, but it was the only film starting at the time I arrived.

It was then back into the car on cruise control at 65 mph until I felt sleepy stopping at a service area for an hours sleep in the (very cold) back of the car then driving on again until I got to a service area near Utica where I got another 3 hours sleep, waking up with feet like ice blocks.

Road Trip Day 4 - 05/11/09

I spent the morning shopping at an outlet centre in Niagara Falls. I was pleasantly surpised to find that I fit into size 32" Jeans - I've dropped 10" round the waist! and I fit into medium t shirts.

The afternoon was spent driving to Toronto. I arrived about 3.30 pm. I hadn't intended to come to Canad until the last couple of weeks and hadn't done any research. My first stop was to a bookshop to get a guidebook. I then headed into the City centre but the one way system would not let me near the hotel I wanted to stay in in the city and so I had to give up on that plan and headed out of town as it was getting too dark for me to drive and map read. I got caught in the rush hour exodus and just went with the flow as the maps I had were of no use and it was too dark to read them anyway. I have ended up staying in luxury (by my standards) a Holiday Inn near the airport.

I shall be looking around Toronto tomorrow - not sure where I will be staying yet, will probably move on somewhere else in Ontario. I will head back on Saturday evening, probably driving through the night to get to the Hudson valley area. I intend to stay at Tarrytown Sunday night and have Woodstock, Sleepy Hollow, Opus 40 and Wings Castle on my list of things to do around there. I might also pay another visit to the Woodbury Common shops if I have many $'s left

Road Trip day 3 - 04/11/09

I drove to Watkins Glen State Park first thing and did the walk up the gorge and back to the car park along the ridge on the south side of the Gorge.

I then drove to Niagara Falls and did a walk around the park seeing the falls from all the viewpoints. Very impressive and luckily there were hardly any other tourists there. The state park is well maintained and a stark contrast to the rest of the town which is mostly industrial complexes and strip malls. I stayed at a cheapo motel on the route into town. It reminded of the David Lynch film "Eraserhead" as it was a dingy room and there was a buzz of industrial noises coming from the traffic and the motels hot water system, all night.

Road Trip Day 2 - 03/11/09

I drove South to Cortland and Ithaca and visited a couple of 2nd hand bookshops in Dryden then did a walk around the Sapsucker Wood Sanctuary where I was fortunate to see a Yellow Bellied Sapsucker as well as a red tailed hawk, a deer and a muskrat all at very close quarters.

I then drove on to the Buttermilk Falls State Park and did a walk around all of their trails, then headed back as it was too dark to go on to Watkins Glen as I had planned.

Road Trip day 1 - 02/11/09

I went into Manhattan first thing and collected the hire car, a Pontiac G6 and headed out of the city following route directions off the interet and, amazingly didn't go wrong once. I arrived at Skaneatles in the early afternoon and spent the rest of the day there, skulking round the town and in my motel room. It's a fairly sleepy place as this is off season - a picturesque, lake side town/village.

Marathon

I went into Manhattan with Nick this morning and had a look round the Guggenheim's Kandinsky exhibition. The marathon was on today and it ended in Central Park, near the Guggenheim. We walked through the Park, following the route of the Marathon. We walked down to times square and split up there,I saw a film, "Law Abiding Citizen" in the afternoon, It wasn't fantastic but was starting when I arrived so decided to see it.

Tomorrow I pick up the hire car and shall be heading up to the Finger Lakes area. I have booked 2 nights at the Birds Nest Motel in Skaneatles.

Halloween in New York

Nick and I went out to Bear Mountain State Park first thing in his shiny new BMW (I always seem to get chauffered in nice cars in the USA!)and did a hike to the top of the mountain and back. It was about 3 miles and took an hour and a half or so. It was very overcast and misty so didn't get to see any of the views but it was a good workout for me, a gentle stroll for Nick. When we got back to the car I shed my sweaty clothes, put them in the trash and we then drove to the nearby, vast, Woodbury Common outlet centre and had a splurge. I got one of the coupon books which paid for itself 3 x over in the first shop.

We went back, ate and got changed then headed into Manhattan for a few beers and to see the Halloween atmosphere. Almost everyone was dressed up apart from me and Nick. Dayna made the effort and was in a pirate wench costume. I was happy just to be wearing some smart clothes that fit me for a change. I had my first alcohol since the diet - 4 bottles of Bud Light - a low calorie beer, not bad.