Transatlantic

[dickieC]

Hi all

I'm back from New York, and surprisingly without the slighest hint of jetlag, thankfully, as it's term next week.

So here's what I got up to, in random order as it was a whistlestop tour and quite a lot of drinking was involved, so forgive me if it's a bit jumbled.

I met up with Ze, NYC and rmr, and they are all terribly cool people who are just as cool, or even cooler, in real life as they are here. I was extremely humbled that Ze managed to find the time in his crowded international schedule to fit me in for a couple of pints and it was really quite amazing to meet the man. He is without a shadow of a doubt the most imaginative and creative person I've ever met: if his imagination were a penis it would be about a foot long I felt like an old Oxford fuddy-duddy talking to him; his ideas are the sort of thing which sound crazy for just a moment until you think, "now why didn't I think of that?". Like he said, he "likes the applause, man". And without giving anything away, he has excellent taste in girlfriend

So I met NYC too, after having been stalking her for almost exactly two years, and we got on famously, to the extent that we were sharing deep dark lifestyle secrets after just a couple of pints and a few appletinis. We called up rmr who eventually understood that I had flown across the Atlantic just to see her, and she headed over from Chicago to our restaurant for booze and some kind of bizarre watermelon-type cocktail I'd rather not repeat. We had a great dinner at a fusion-type restaurant and NYC ordered oysters, adopting the style of ordering used by Meg Ryan in "When Harry Met Sally" just to make sure she got exactly what she wanted NYC and rmr commented extensively on just how cute our waiter's bottom was before we headed off to Astoria (which I'm told is in Queens). rmr bailed out (was that cheeseburger such a good idea?) and we piled into the bar in question whose name and location rather escapes me now. I drank some American "beer" which I think was actually German and got chatting to some people NYC may or may not have known (details are getting quite hazy by this point). I have no idea how long we were there but eventually it got time to go but only once we had a kebab. This was not what I had been expecting from English kebab vans in that it actually came on a skewer with a piece of Christopher Walken's bread on the end (no, I'm none the wiser either). After that all I know is that I woke up at nine am lying on my bed in my hotel room, fully clothed and with the kind of hangover that a shit, shower and shave ain't gonna cure. I then had to check out of my hotel and head off half-way up Long Island to see my non-ZeMonkey friend Joe. So to anyone who was on the Long Island Rail Road 12:14 from Penn Station to Ronkonkoma last Saturday, I apologise for the extremely smelly and hungover Limey in your midst.

What else did I do? I went shopping in Macys and Century 21 and spent far too much money, but my credit card is evil and must be punished. On Long Island I visited a winery and their harvest festival, where there was a bluegrass band and I had a hay-ride with some 9 year olds which was enormous fun. Joe and I drove out to Orient point, the end of the North Fork of the island and saw the sun set which was very beautiful. I also had the best cup of coffee I've ever drunk in a little coffee shop called Aldo's in Greenpoint on Long Island - recommended. I saw Central Park, including the John Lennon memorial, and the Guggenheim gallery, which has some beautiful pictures but is also an amazing building.

What a lot in three and a half days... I should do this more often...

NYC has the photos. Post 'em, dammit!

More if and when I can remember it. Now I'm off to have my toenail cut out.

[daverbee]

Actually, NYC posted some photos already. It looked like y'all had a good time, and your report just confirms that!
Glad you enjoyed your visit across the Big Ditch!
Good luck with the toenail, too.

[joppa.gal]

Sounds like tremendous fun!

[rmr]

dickie -- i miss you so much -- please promise to write............

here's some pics for you.............

[Willow Sylph]

Sounds like you all had a great time! Where are these pics that were already posted, daver??

[sparticle]

Glad you all had such fun!

Not too jealous.....

heh heh heh heh

[nycwriters]

I could not move all day Saturday I was so hungover!

But t'was a hoot! Glad to have met ya.

[nycwriters]

P.S. Do you still have the hat?!!!

[zenbabe]

Originally posted by dickieC
if his imagination were a penis it would be about a foot long

and with the kind of hangover that a shit, shower and shave ain't gonna cure.

HAHAAHHAHAHHA!

sorry, but these are two things I just never imagined Dickie would say...hahhahahahhaha!

[chuckie egg]

hehe! I didn't know southerners said "shit, shower and shave" too

Glad you had a good time!

[dickieC]

Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear.

I don't remember half of those photos. Who is the attractive olive-skinned woman I'm hugging? Did I get her phone number?

[rmr]

that was me -- you jerk

[dickieC]

Nononono, I remember hugging you! How could I forget??!?! It was the one later on... I certainly don't remember dancing either...

[nycwriters]

Originally posted by dickieC
Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear.

I don't remember half of those photos. Who is the attractive olive-skinned woman I'm hugging? Did I get her phone number?

She wanted to take you home but you said no.

You danced with them for a good hour ... both the girls.

More importantly: Do you still have the hat?!! Do you not remember me pilfering that from the awning at the pub? It took some doing!

[dickieC]

I do not recall the hat in the slightest, I'm afraid...