Last Friday...

With Rob being at work for most of the day, it was up to me to brave it on my own round New York.  Armed with a map, and a few instructions for where the best shopping was, I grabbed a quick Starbucks and headed off in the direction of Broadway.  I think it felt good that most people were on their way to work, which meant that when I got to Macy's there weren't too many people about.

It was all decorated for Christmas, and in the windows and inside it looked beautiful.  I didn't realise while I waited for the doors to open, but there were 9 floors.  After a couple of hours of browsing and treating myself to a jumper, I decided that I'd better leave or else I wouldn't see anything else of the city for the whole day.  As I left the store, I saw the lit up word 'Believe' on the side of the building and looking at the street name I finally twigged that I was seeing something of the film 'Miracle on 34th Street' which is still one of my favourite Christmas films.  What a doofus not to spot the connection before.

Plenty of browsing throughout the day, I made my way down Broadway and 5th Avenue all the way until I got to the site of the World Trade Centre.  It was a hive of activity to see the new buildings going up... they are already pretty tall.

Just as the sun was going down, Rob finished for the day and caught up with me and we headed over to the Hudson River.  It was a lovely evening with a view towards the Statue of Liberty in one direction and the Empire State Building in the other, glowing in the evening sun.

We finished off the day with a mexican meal in Dos Caminos in Soho, and a bowl of Guacamole about the size of my head.  The food was tasty and filling.  We walked back to the hotel, past the Empire State Building, all lit up for the evening.  It was a very relaxing day, but my feet were so so sore!  Still, the exercise is good for me, right?

Last Thursday...

...Something quite fabulous happened.  I got on a plane.  By myself.  For the first time, I flew to the United States of America.  Rob was in New York for the full week, and he and everyone else twisted my arm to go out there for the weekend.

So, a very early start and I arrived at Heathrow with a heap of time to spare.  I'd heard amazing things about Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food, so with 3 hours at least until being fed on the plane, I decided breakfast was in order.  The Eggs Florentine I ordered were the best I've ever had.  The portion size was spot on so that I felt full but not stuffed.

The BA flight was full, but the time passed quickly.  Again, the food was excellent, I was pretty impressed that we weren't fed too much as on some flights I've been on.  So I arrived feeling ok, and the customs man was nice to me and made me smile, and they let me in so that was all great!

I was a little tired since I don't sleep on planes, but an hour in a taxi later and I was at the beautiful Bryant Park Hotel.  The view out of the window was of the ice rink in Bryant Park and the lovely little stalls of handmade goods.  The room itself was a suite and it was enormous, with an equally beautiful and huge bathroom.  And I slept so well on the first night which is something I rarely manage.

After Rob finished work, we headed out locally for a meetup with a few old friends from the London office and a couple of beers and I felt very quickly at home, and had Manhattan pegged as something between London and Sydney.  Somewhat familiar but with a few things to get used to at the same time.  But I was excited for the weekend rather than petrified of being in a place I didn't know.  Go me.

Reality

In the past, I have dabbled with watching reality TV.  When Pop Idol first started in the UK, I watched it periodically, to catchup with who was good and who I really wasn't bothered about.  Back then, I was very much a fan of pop idol.  Now we have The X Factor.  I don't think I've watched a single series.  For a start, I cannot bear to cringe my way through the audition process.  Secondly, I don't think there's anything new or exciting, from the snippets I've seen when I've visited friends who are avid watchers, and when my family visit and beg to watch it - it all seems like pop.  For a girl who has found her way to Punk/alt music, I can say that this reality show holds no interest for me, I don't care who the judges are, and I find that I have no buy in to any of the acts.  How about a Punk Idol? (jk, I know it wouldn't work before the watershed)

I'm a Celebrity just makes me want to vomit, because I just find all those bushtucker trials disgusting.  Some people might get pleasure out of watching celebs make themselves ill or eat things I never would, but really, not for me.

Big Brother. Ahhh. I'll admit, I have watched certain series of this.  I watched the first couple when it was new and interesting and when Nasty Nick's behaviour was shocking and it wasn't clear what would happen in the house.  It was a bit more of a social experiment and that made it interesting and the people seemed like they might have been quite normal people that you might have known.  These days, it seems to be the most outrageous people who will all cause trouble or have a 'thing' about them.  This promotes lots of arguing and sniping, backstabbing and shouting out in the open.  Some people like this, I prefer a quiet life.

I wasn't really interested in Strictly Come Dancing.  I was quite irritated when Arlene left, since she is one of the best known choreographers in the UK, she knows her stuff and she was honest with her opinions.  However, let's let that one go, it's in the past. This year -  I. Am. Hooked.  Between the UK version and the US one which films on Monday nights and airs a week later here in the UK, I am stunned by the quality of the participants this year.  I only really set them to record because I thought it would be fun to watch certain people (Jason, Harry, Holly - UK and Ricki, Carson - US).  It's been interesting because those I thought wouldn't do so well have had weeks of brilliance, and those I thought it would come naturally to have struggled.  But I have enjoyed every single show, it brightens up my week and I plan to stick with it.

Having said that, with all the scheduling of reality tv (there seems to be a new one popping up every week), I suppose I feel that these shows are being made in place of other, traditional TV, which is a real shame.  Perhaps with the surprise popularity of Downton Abbey, the UK is ready for a little less reality and a lot more of an escape with a bit of well scripted and performed drama.

It's all about the Service

Isn't it depressing when you receive bad service from a place, for no particular reason. These days I order a lot more online than I used to and last year I think I did most of my xmas shopping online. A lot of the time, the delivery person is in a hurry to complete their round, I totally understand that. But really, would it hurt them to smile as they hand over the parcel?

I remember one occasion this year when the delivery person practically threw the parcel at me with such a horrible look on his face and then stormed off out of the building. Had that man been a representative of the company that I ordered from rather than a delivery courier, I would never have ordered from them again. It ruined my day, and it is a moment that has really stuck in my memory. All because I didn't answer the door within a couple of seconds so he could rush off to his next delivery. I felt like an inconvenience, when I had paid for that item and probably paid a delivery charge on top. 

Then there are companies who cold call us. They read from a script, and sometimes they don't even deviate from this when you try and talk to them. When you try to cut them off not to waste their time, they can become downright rude. Some of them have even just put the phone down on me. The way that I like to deal with the really persistent ones, is to waste their time back. I let them get through to the end of their script, often a few minutes long, and then I tell them I'm not interested. These ones are just pests. I'm a very reasonable person, and I know it is their job to sell sell sell, but when they invade my life and then talk over me with their script, I don't feel bad about being an arse.

In contrast, there have been two occasions this week when I've had excellent customer service. Firstly, speaking to a lovely lady yesterday to update some details into my married name. The lady at BA was great. Friendly, helpful, and she did exactly what she said, turned my request around quickly and gave me faith in the company. I am a person who hates making phone calls. But when you get service like this, it makes life easier and makes me hate it less.

Secondly, a service company. My husband spoke to them on the phone on Friday as there was a problem with the flat. They were, again, friendly, they talked with him through the problem and arranged to send someone out. The guy arrived exactly on time, with a smile on his face, a bit of conversation and fixed the problem and explained it to me as he wrote out the service report. If only more companies were like this. 

So, if you're in a service role, and you have to interact with customers or potential customers, then please, whatever is happening in your day, there's no need to take it out on the person opening the door or answering the phone unless they've done something to you to deserve it.

Madina Lake @Electric Ballroom

My first time in the Electric Ballroom for a gig and I found it a pretty good experience. It felt big enough that I was completely comfortable to stand where I could have some space and I still had an amazing view of the stage.

First support was Super Happy Fun Club, another Chicago band. I really liked their sound and their vibe, plenty of energy on stage, and I'd had a quick little listen to some of their music before the gig and recognised some of it so it must have got stuck somewhere in my head. They delivered a solid set.

Next on was My Passion. I thought they were also pretty good, but maybe a little heavy for my personal tastes and the lighting guy seemed to be going a bit mad with the strobe which wound me up a bit. But, it was bursting with energy and they sounded great as a live act.

Onto Madina Lake then. From the second they stepped out, I started grinning like a fool and I don't think I stopped until the lights came up at the end of the show. Their whole vibe is so infectious, and it was a totally different atmosphere to last August when they had to play without Matthew whilst he was recovering. That time, totally emotional, and this time absolutely on fire and sparky - they looked as though they had a brand new lease of life, and a proud confidence that a band has when they know they've delivered the best music of their careers so far, produced exactly as they wanted.

The set was a pretty balanced selection of tracks from all three albums, including 'Howdy Neighbor' and 'Imagineer' from latest album WWIII. If I'd been in charge of picking the set, I would have picked an almost identical list, possibly with the exception that I'd have thrown in 'Across 5 Oceans' as I think it lends itself to jumping around with a big crowd of people and singing at the top of your voice. Without giving too much away, I'll say that the staging was pretty thoughtful and immersive which added to the buzz.

My only real criticisms of the show were that the sound in the venue wasn't the best ever and Jeezi was a little in the shadows at the back of the stage, but at least his drums were on a platform this time so he wasn't completely lost behind the other guys.

Overall a fantastic and fun show from four truly brilliant and inspiring guys. I went home happy, uplifted, and exhausted, and that's all I can really ask for.

Old projects

Last month, I wrote about a piece that I was starting work on that had originally been started by my Grandma. I was finding the wool a bit tough and found that it hurt my hands more than regular cross stitch. I changed to a smaller needle. This had two effects - the first that it didn't pull quite so much and was a little easier on my hands and the second was that the needle kept falling out of the material by the time I'd moved my hand around to the back.

Thankfully it was a small piece, and I'm pleased to say that I completed it yesterday. Grandma had done the green and I finished off all the rest. Picture below:



But no rest for the wicked, as soon as I finish a piece I'm stripping it off the frame and getting the next one lined up. I'm going to be doing the other UFO of Grandma's which is a little cottage (one of a pair, the other is already finished). Luckily I managed to locate all the matching threads and I'm ready to go. My HAED projects are sitting in a corner taunting me with 'you have to finish all the other older pieces you bought before you can start us'. Sigh, and I'll keep plugging away!

BINTM Live

This weekend, a friend and I went to the Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model live show at the Excel centre in East London. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it sold itself as a great girls day out. There were various tickets available, but at £49, I thought that VIP was a little too much to fork out so instead we opted for the Premium tickets for £28. This included a ticket to the live catwalk show. There was also a £20 ticket for entry and a seat further back in the show or £12.50 just for the shopping and no catwalk show.

I have to say I found the whole day out a bit disappointing. Having been to Excel a few times before and knowing how big it is, I was sad that the actual shopping area took up so little room, and I think this made it feel like it wasn't worth the ticket price. There were a lot of makeover stands to get your hair or nails done, but these had big queues and quite a lot of the same things appeared multiple times and not the variety that I would have liked.

The live catwalk show was really impressive, and it was good to see the girls from this year's show put on such a great display and to demonstrate why they were in the show, and they all looked truly stunning in real life. The male dancers (mostly topless) and live music made it more of a spectacle, and I thought this redeemed the day out a little.

But overall, I have paid a lot less money to go to much better shows than this - I don't think I'll be returning next year.