Well I think I can get use to this – being the lady of leisure and spending time soaking up all that is happening in NY. Never appreciated the size of Manhattan- absolutely huge and my feet can vouch for that. I have walked and walked and walked and now to my great delight I am now walking down streets and avenues that I now find familiar. With those eager buffs at CWA who have pedometers I am averaging K25000 steps a day. The running is taking a back seat as the legs just wouldn’t cope with that as well.

Speaking of running- yes I have ‘meandered’ may way through Central park- an impressive, huge (once again) park that sits smack bang in the middle of Manhattan- this is where the many young mums meet with their children for an Army style marching keep fit class, buggies and all. Then on an adjacent park area you have the older NY residents with thier dogs (large and small-people and dogs) and they have their chat while the dogs play. There is a Marathon at Central park this Sat morning, thought it may be worth being a spectator- there are some extremely fit people here.

We are in a superb apartment. Close to the United Nations Building- so Ian meanders down there for his daily meetings. The air conditioning in the apartment goes non stop. Weather wise it can vary between 95-85C, but autumn is on its way. The beautiful elm trees that grace the streets are beginning to turn and drop- yes even at this temp. Sorry all, I wont go on how hot and wonderful it is as I know what dreadul weather you have been having this week as we are in daily contact with the chn and they make it very clear that the weather has been dreadful.

Here are a few pictures showing you some of the sites we have experienced over the last week. I do the prep work and then when Ian has a free moment we zoom off and enjoy the sites together- so as you can imagine a very busy weekend planned!!!

Just one worth mentioning is the World Trade centre site- a very eerie place with the cavity of the buildings very obvious. Extremely quiet place and very moving. Many fire trucks display the names of their crew that were lost. Some people say that the NY people have become more friendly and caring towards each other since then- 5 years ago in September.

I will fill you in on the other happenings over the course of the week. Many pictures to show but don’t want to bore you silly.

Thats it from me for now. Take care and trust all is hail and hearty.

 Barb