Scene and heard

I was most relieved to get word a couple of days ago that I got the job I was hoping for. I start on Monday for UBS in Midtown Manhattan, near the Rockefeller Center. It will be a slight career change for me as it isn’t actually in IT. How would I describe it for people who may not understand and are likely to have a short attention span? I won’t even try. But it is on the business side of the systems I have worked on for years. So I really know at least 2/3 of the job already, even if from a slightly different angle. And the other 1/3, I at least know in concept.

It is supposedly a 6 month contract, but there is plenty of work and they really want to hire someone when their hiring freeze is over. So if I like them and they like me, my job hopping days could be over. What a relief that will be.

When I stepped out of my apartment earlier, I thought someone had dropped a brooch of some sort. I didn’t measure it but did picture it by my foot for context. I’m sure the wingspan is between 5 and 6 inches.

It was only when I nudged it with a piece of paper and it fluttered its wings, that I thought, wrongly, that it was an actual butterfly. I then decided to nudge it to safety. As it kind of doesn’t look real, I had visions of someone moving it with their foot and hurting it, or a kid deciding it was something to play with. And for right or wrong, I thought it would be better outside than inside.

When the skies suddenly opened up, it looked uncomfortable and finally flew a few feet to some shelter. Now, hours later and post dusk, it is still holding onto the banister where it sought shelter earlier. I couldn’t guess why it wasn’t moving when it obviously could. I thought that it would hopefully get hungry and fly off. However, when I discovered what it was, I found that it is very likely to be a female, putting out pheromones to attract males to mate with. She is likely to be visited by any number of males from within a several mile radius. And no, she will not get hungry as the adults don’t eat.

http://butterflies.aa6g.org/Butterflies/Raised/polyphemus.html

Carrie, Carolyn and I went to Coney Island last Saturday to see the Freak Show. It is a group of performers who do a lot of the old circus side show acts. There was a snake dance, a sword swallower, a fire eater, a woman who has electricity run through her body, people driving nails up their noses and a man with 3 fingers on each hand who was called Black Scorpion. The audience is requested to ooh and aah. We have all seen this stuff on TV and know it isn’t really dangerous, but it really is a fun show and I’d recommend it to anyone.

I was supposed to go back to Coney Island on Tuesday to see the Cyclones, a minor league Baseball team, but Carrie got out of work too late, so instead I met her for a drink. We went to a SoHo bar where Strongbow Cider, my second favourite after Blackthorn, was $3 for an American Pint! In New York City! I couldn’t believe it when the bartender asked me for $6 for two drinks!

After two pints, we walked towards 14th street, deciding we would stop off somewhere to eat. And there it was. Katz’s. The only deli in New York where they still hand slice the pastrami and the absolute best in town! I couldn’t walk past it hungry. One extra lean Pastrami on rye and an order of fries is quite enough for two adults, although I used to eat that much myself in the days when my appetite was larger and my tendency store fat somewhat lesser.

This place is a New York institution and a complete cross section of the city goes there. I have to recommend it to tourists. If you talk with the person making your sandwich, he will give you extra slices of pastrami while you wait and a plate full of delicious pickles including tomatoes, which I had always previously refused but never will again. If you are happy with his service, a tip of a dollar or two wouldn’t go amiss.

Beware though. A lot of people think the same way as me and at certain times, the place becomes a complete zoo and it can be difficult to find a table. And if you don’t like high noise levels, you really won’t like this place when it is crowded. As I think about it though, if you are averse to high noise levels, you took a wrong turn somewhere ending up in New York in the first place! This is the City in a microcosm. Enjoy!

Yesterday was the 25th annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade. As with so many things that started small and remained so for a number of years, its fame has spread and it seemed like a few thousand people we trying to get a view of the festivities and nuttiness.

There were the obligatory mermaids and, this being New York, the equally obligatory men dressed as women. I arrived a little late but the parade goes on for 3 hours. There was a girl who looked barely 10 years old walking on very high stilts, men and women wearing not a lot more than body paint – just enough more not to break any laws; dancing, music floats, colourful costumes, original themes and plenty of posing for the crowd. An interesting aspect to there being so much female flesh on show was the number of rather butch lesbians who were there. Some who were near me were almost indistinguishable from horny, inappropriate young men in their comments!

Afterwards, I rather wanted a Nathan’s Hot Dog, but apparently, so did half of the people who came for the parade and the queue must have been 45 minutes. It seems that a lot of people can’t go to Coney Island without eating one – they are much better at the original stand than at the franchises that have been opening. I like them but don’t need them that much!

Walking around for a while longer, there were several people still in costume – or lack thereof - milling around. It was a real fun afternoon out and I will definitely go again. Anyone who has ever considered going should definitely do so.

The commercial is another of those that you are supposed to suspend disbelief and think of actors as real people speaking their own words unrehearsed. Why do advertisers persist with this ridiculous ploy? In this one, a young man, states:

““I put it on in the evening before I go to bed, and when I wake up in the morning, you don’t have acne. And that’s an amazing feeling.”

I know this is based upon a commonly used turn of phrase, but I have no doubt it is not used in that vein here. It is a truth in advertising thing.

According to my son, Sean, Proactiv is very good. However, it is nowhere near as good as the commercial pretends, and his skin has never cleared up overnight. However, he agrees with me that when he puts in on at night, I don't have acne in the morning.

I’m so lucky! I ‘won’ a different lottery in England a few weeks ago. The shame here is that if several people are running similar scams, not to mention the Nigeria scams and the impoverished women putting themselves through college, then obviously enough people fall for this nonsense to make it worthwhile for these criminals to try working their scam.

People! Wake up! Grow up! Microsoft doesn’t give you money for sending emails and these lowlifes will take your money, not give you any. Why should they? It is like expecting to win money at three-card Monty or the Pea game. There is an approximately 0% chance, give or take absolutely nothing, of you coming out on top. They make their living taking money from fools.

It didn’t take much research to find that there is no such address, but that isn’t surprising. Anyone stupid enough to fall for this would not take the time to write a letter, they would want their easy money NOW! Point 2: The first number listed is in the 0703 exchange – for international calls, the leading zero is removed. There is no 0703 exchange! And nobody is going to send a Fax. Clearly, they want you to email. Don’t!

Here is the email I received :

Msn Award Team
Baley House, Har Road
Sutton, Greater London
SM1 4te United Kingdom.
Batch: 12/25/0340Ref:MSN-L/200-26937

Dear Prize Winner

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of five hundredthousand pounds(£500,000) for New Year Edition 2008 Lottery promotionwhich is organized by YAHOO LOTTERY INC & WINDOWS LIVE.YAHOO & MICROSOFTWINDOWS, collects all the email addresses of the people that areactive online, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo andHotmail weonly select five people every Month as our winners through electronicballoting System without the winner applying,we congratulate you forbeing one of the people selected.

PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM

You are to contact your Claims Agent with immediate effect to faciliatethe protocol of your winning prized before the date ofClaim,Winners Shall be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement CentrePrize must be claimed not later than 15 days from date of Draw Notification after the Draw date in which Prize has won. Any prize not claimed withinthis period will be forfeited.These are your dentification numbers:

Batch number...................12/25/0340
Reff number.......................Ref:MSN-L/200-26937
Winning number...................YM09788

To begin your claim please contact our licensed and accredited agentassigned to you

MR. Terry Martins(VERIFICATION DEPARTMENT MANAGER)Email:mswclaimsdept1982@live.com
Tel: +44-703-197-3147
Fax: +44 870 471 6651

You are therefore advised to send the following information to the claimsagent to facilitate them and in order for them to have access inproceeding with the tranaferred of your funds to your nominated bankaccount.

1. Full name............
2. Country..............
3. Contact Address........
4. Telephone Number.......
5. Marital Status.........
6. Occupation.............
7. Company..............
8. Age....................

Msn Lottery Prize must be claimed not later than 15 days from date of Draw Notification after the Draw date in which Prize has won. Any prizenot claimed within this period will be forfeited.

Congratulations!! once again.
Yours in service,
Mrs Pamela White(Operation Manager)

My dad was a simple and unassuming man. Kids and animals would seek his company, even while others tried harder to win their affections. In his innocence, he saw only good in people, so people saw only good in him.

Although he was an under-achiever, he went to his grave feeling like a success, because he measured success in love, which is something that there were no limits of, either from him or to him.

Over 7 years on, I rejoice everything about this lovely, sweet man and will always feel so very privileged that of all of the people born in this world, I am one of only three who share the distinction of having him as a father.

I love you Dad and I always will.

This picture was taken at Niagara Falls in the early 90s. That's me and my kids in the background.

My birthday celebrations continue. On the day itself, I went back to St. Andrew’s for another couple of pints of my favourite tipple, Blackthorn Cider, courtesy of Trish. Tomorrow, Hannah, my daughter, is taking me to NoNo, a really good Cajun place at 7th and 7th in Park Slope. As I lived in New Orleans, I know the difference between fake and real Cajun, and good and bad. NoNo, incidentally, stands for North of New Orleans.

Last night, Carrie, who is my only real foodie friend, took me to l’école, at the corner of Grand Street and Broadway in Lower Manhattan. It is a gourmet restaurant where all of the cooking is done by students of The French Culinary Institute and it really is an absolute must for all lovers of fine food. They apparently have sittings with a 4 course prix fixe menu which you can book up to 7pm every day except Sunday, but the later sittings, between 8 and 9pm are 5 courses, and the same $42 price. This place is so good that you need to book at least a week in advance even for midweek. I have to guess if you want to book for Friday or Saturday, you should do so rather more than just a week in advance.

I had a Duck Consommé with Foie Gras, Trout, an amazing Lamb Chop meat course, and what they call a Digestive Salad, followed by a desert, the name of which I don’t recall, but I can assure anyone, was superb. And they bring complimentary dishes with the main and dessert and started us with a taster of some delicious gazpacho

This is food to be savoured; eaten in small bites and chewed slowly. To do anything else would be a waste and you should eat elsewhere! The service is superb. I will most definitely go back. This is a super treat for the palate and a great way of spending 2 to 3 hours – easily the best restaurant I have been to in New York, at a fraction of he price of anything that might possibly be comparable..

Just before we left, I thought I saw the celebrity chef Jacques Pepin, who is one of the teachers at the institute. Carrie confirmed it was him and went over to chat with him. She complimented him on the food and he responded that he had been waiting for her to come over all evening. I too complimented him. He is a charming man who had a table of young men laughing out loud when he entered the dining room and bantered with them.

GO THERE!

It was easy deciding where to get a few people together. Only St. Andrew’s and Chip Shop have Blackthorn Cider, but the Scottish Pub also has really nice fiddle folk music on a Saturday evening and makes for a great night out. So 6 of us, including 3 of my absolute best friends, got together. Ivi had to leave early. In the picture, from left to right either side of yours truly are Trish, Sian, a Welsh woman who lived in England for many years before coming here, Carolyn, who I have known since January 1980 and shared an Upper East Side apartment with for 15 months way back when, and Carrie. I met both Trish and Carrie on a dating website and both have become great friends.

I had to have Fish and Chips, which they do really well. I can also recommend their burger and ribs. The bangers and mash looked a bit iffy! People of all ages go there but there is nothing yuppie or pretentious about the place. Easily my favourite New York pub – even excluding the Blackthorn!


The music is great. It started with 3 people – fiddle, guitar and flute - at about 9 o’clock and the others, all regulars, joined in as the evening progressed. Some of what they play is nice background music, but some of it really gets the feet tapping! I have seen people dancing on busier evenings. I definitely, strongly recommend this place. Everyone I take there loves it.

My mother wired me some money from England. She paid 20 pounds to send the money, out of which presumably a small amount was actually the cost of the wire transfer.

My bank over here charged me $35 to receive the money. Perhaps a banker could correct me on this, but I’m not sure there’s anything more costly for them receiving money from a US Bank than from a wire service, so this money is 100% profit.

It doesn’t end there though. While the money registered in my account almost instantly after transmission, it did not clear until the next day, meaning that the bank also has use of my money as a free loan that I didn’t authorise.

When are governments going to insist that Banks, which are entirely 21st Century in their ability to move money around, stop this practice of holding money for clearing periods? Should out-of-State checks take 5 or more days to clear when the transfer no longer happens by horse messenger, but instantly? Should they be able to charge $35 or whatever the hell else they choos to levy, to receive money from a Wire Transfer?

How can this be justified? I wonder if our next President – whoever it is promises change – might have a few suggestions!

I had wanted to walk through Back Bay as I was told I’d really like it, but didn’t know exactly where it was. On Thursday, I walked towards Boston Common, stopping at the bar that Cheers was modelled on. I thought I might take pictures of others taking pictures. But it really is quite nondescript, and nobody was there.

So I walked through the Common, not sure what I would find.

At the end of it, I could have walked on City Streets, but came upon another park: Boston Public Gardens. I liked this more than the Common. I love beautiful trees, and the Gardens have a lot of them.




Coming to the end of that, I saw another, narrow green. The plaque announced it as Commonwealth Avenue Mall. When this long block ended, there was another and then another and then another – 8 in all. My slow stroll took an hour and a quarter until I reached Massachusetts Avenue.

Each block has a monument. It is all a part of the ‘Emerald necklace’. Arnold’s Arboretum, which I wrote about a month or so ago, while several miles away, is also part of the necklace, which was designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, who also designed Central Park, Niagara Falls State Park and many others. He was also a chief designer of the World’s Columbian Exposition, otherwise known as the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. It’s fair to say that America would be a different place if not for this man. Certainly, Boston would.

I spent a fair while pottering and posting on my favourite web site – COYS, which is a membership only site for ardent Spurs fans. If you need to ask what COYS stands for, you don’t qualify!

After Sean gave me an estimated time for his arrival, I packed my stuff slowly and got back onto COYS, hoping for news of the next big player signing for the team. After his arrival, we walked to Anna’s Taqueria, which Sean absolutely loves. It had started to rain, but I was again happy for the walk. I have to say, even though a couple of people found it amusing that Sean would just have to go to Anna’s, above anywhere else, it was that perfect combination of really nice and very cheap.

We go quite wet walking back, but I had to show Sean some of the buildings above the T on Beacon Street. The road is split level, for those who haven’t been there, and clearly, the top half is the wealthier and the nicer. A few minutes to load my stuff into his car and he was on his way back to Amherst. He was unable to take me to New York that day and I had to leave Saturday.

So one last journey on 5pm Lucky Star bus. It cost me $5.50 and the driver was decent, which makes a change. We drove through waves of rain, but even including the stop, made it in 4 hours. And before 10pm, I walked into my apartment in Brooklyn; the Boston adventure behind me. But I still hasn’t quite sunk in that I won’t be going back. I need a job!