We're back - physically , anyway, but not quite mentally!
As arranged , the five of us were escorted from JFK Airport by Pat , Frankie and Sam to one of our 'home-from-homes' in the Bronx (where Shay and his girlfriend had a breakfast and our rooms waiting for us!) and, after a few hours chit-chat , a good feed , a few hours sleep and a shower , the 'Assault on Precinct New York' began : the five of us were 'let loose' on this gentle city to wreck havoc on our purses , with transport arranged for us , for the full two weeks , to avail of as we pleased - and the driver , Joel - God Bless the man and his patience ! - couldn't do enough for us , driving us out to Jersey Gardens four times (!) and to Woodbury Common twice , over the two-week period !
After a few days in our Bronx apartment , Joel , Kevin , Heno , Mel and Larry moved us to one in Queens , from where we continued our 'shop and explore' mission , done the same a few days later from our new 'base' in Brooklyn and, finally, spent the last few days in a three-bed duplex apartment in Hell's Kitchen : each new venue brought with it new experiences , as we re-explored our old stomping grounds from two years ago , lamented the 'passing' of old shops whilst welcoming the new ones!
But we didn't use all our time in New York shopping and/or sight-seeing : we explored plenty of areas where tourists wouldn't normally get to , such as parts of Harlem , the Bronx and the Bowery District , to name but a few such venues, and we ate and drank in the 'regular' bars and clubs , sometimes with Joel and other times without him : we found , from experience, that that is the best way to get a 'feel' of what the city is really like , in much the same way that Grafton Street in Dublin (the 'Fifth Avenue' of Dublin) wouldn't be representative of Dublin proper - and, in doing so, we met the nicest , most polite , helpful and down-to-earth people that you could hope to meet in that huge city or in any other comparable metropolis : most of them downtrodden , no airs or graces, nothing false about them. People that the five of us could relate to and who we really enjoyed spending time in the company of.
Anyway , for now , we're back , and trying to settle-in to 'reality' : good to see our partners and our kids and our family , distribute the many presents we brought back , sort out the house , feed the cat/dog and the goldfish and prepare ourselves for 'normality'. And, after we fail miserably to do all that (!) , I'm going to try and re-organise things around '1169 Towers' and start posting again. Hopefully......
Check back here on Wednesday evening and see if I succeed!
Thanks for reading, Sharon.
