New York Stories

Had some pretty surreal encounters when I was out travelling, not least of which were in the Big Apple...

- First get to the city after travelling 5 hours by coach, thru ridiculous Friday night traffic. Arrive at Port Authority only to be bolked out of $40 by some guy who found me and my friend a cab. Still, was the only way of getting one! Stayed at a hostel in midtown in a room with, variously, a fat snoring Mexican and his mate; a very sweet young couple; and a couple of fun girls who'd just come in from camp like me. Kinda a weired experience, one of the girl's boyfriends was around and was al a bit incestuous. Played a drinking game using cheerleading sticks - u take the caps of the stick and pour ur drink in, then twist the other end off and let the drink just flow down ur gullet. Vacuum, see? We then went out in town but I lost them for some bizarre reason and had to bugger off home. Wasn't 21 at the time so probs a good thing!

- Met an old white South African at the same hostel who was in the city 'researching history' he said. I asked him tentatively if he identified himself as 'Afrikaans', knowing full well what a combustible term that is! He didn't seem too offended!

- Got chatting to a lovely, slightly doddery couple at the US Open. Very friendly, the woman asked me where I was from, I said Wales, she was delighted, couldn't wait to tell her husband, he racks his brains for Welsh knowledge, says..."Wales...I know Cardiff...and that's about it." To which I say "That'll do..."

- Went out to Coney Island, Brooklyn and rode the world's oldest rollercoaster, and ate fantastic junk food. Nuff said!

- Went to see the Conan O'brien show being taped. Was meant to be going with a really cool Texan girl I'd met the night b4 but they ran out of tkts! Oh well. Very very funny nonetheless, and got chatting with a really nice lad from Melbourne in the audience. Ran into him in the hostel a few days later, small world!

- Spent a glorious few hours in the Met and MoMa. Saw, again, what I consider to be the greatest painting of all time, a portrait by Jean-Louis David

- Was yelled at by some harassed woman for getting in her way going down the stairs in the Subway. wud hav been disappointed if hadn't been yelled at by at least one New Yorker!

- Stayed in Harlem one night. Hung with a couple of Puerto Ricans, couple of Dutch, couple of Kiwis. went to a hookah bar in Greenwich Village, some random Italian joined us and made us pick up his tab! ended the evening scouring Lexington for a fast food joint with an Ulsterman called Marty ('Mar-dee' as he said it), ended up eating some disgusting 'meat' in 'pastry'. Never again!

- Watched the Princess Bride by the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset, in the company of some utterly chamring people who let me share their picnic. the friendly side of New York.

- Saw Superbad in Times Square. I LOVE american movie audiences! if they find something laugh out loud funny or cool, they clap and cheer and don't give a shit what people think! We r SO stuck up in this country by comparison!

That's it for now, I got a few more tho!