Jon n Barb

Well we hit the ground running, straight off the red eye, taxi to hotel to drop off bags, then first to the Rockefeller Centre at around 8.30. With my mouth feeling like it had been hoovered and my legs trying to buckle and my brain screaming don’t get in the lift (I don’t mind being in them its the overriding fear it’s gonna break down) forward I went. The first lift is just two floors to the exhibition floor, and then a cheery person greets you, one hit on the button and you get whooshed up 67 floors! With a glass ceiling so you can see all the workings and pretty flashing lights. Great views from the top, but the lift back down seemed much slower. Still then it was off to the Staten Island Ferry ... read more

We went to Carmel to smell the money - sweet little town full of art galleries, jewellers, pretty little shops v. up market and boy did it smell sweet, swear they sieved the sand on the beach it was so soft. They had a sculpture exhibition which had a few really good pieces. Arrived at friends who decided we should be eased back to the real world of responsibility. Hence we have a sweet gentle dog, Bear, and a bunch of very adorable cats. Horror of horrors we have to change our own bed linen! They couldn’t stand watching us flail around so have left home for a week. Lucky we have a laptop and can google how to cope when your friends leave town. Well she says very upmarket, but that’s mainly the prices. Among ... read more

Had to swap girlfriends, the last one had a lovely voice but she was just too ‘please herself california’, just kept switching off. Bizarrely this new one has an english accent and behaves very ladlike, positively the school marm, especially when we ignore her directions, she just gets tetchier until we do as we’re told. So we found ourselves in Santa Barbara, for no better reason than I have some vague memory of a TV show of that name, and of course it’s named after the one I love. It is like being on a tv show set, very much a lifestyle town, went to a couple of nice beaches, almost empty except for people walking designer dogs and the inevitable power walkers. Everyone had those fixed grins that say ‘ No, I don’t have to ... read more

As we are only a stones throw away from the border it seemed churlish not to go across it. Not that we really found ourselves in Mexico. Tijuana is more like a gigantic discount pharmacy for Californians. The pharmacies even have touts out on the streets trying to entice customers in, you can buy just about anything except codeine or amphetamine based medications (although round the back streets........), Viagra and Cialis seem to be big sellers along with antibiotics and anti-herpes medication. Probably so you can get your moneys worth with cheap hookers and then hope you can clean up the resulting mess. Strangely the Corona tasted somewhat better south of the border, maybe because it’s half the price. Easiest border crossing ever going south, different story heading north. Wonder if it will be any easier ... read more

Well Cook hmmm, arrived late, getting towards midnight, via air NZ, again no veggie meal - actually just think that is their policy! No-one to meet us at airport - we waited, jb’s mood darkened more than the midnight around us. The next and last flight was due in around 1ish, after which the bar would close! time for action, the barmaid was v. sweet & helpful, in as much as she served beer and told me how the phone worked - only via a card - that wasn’t sold at the airport - yep it’s run by NZ! Luckily someone arrived to meet a friend on the last flight in, he seemed to know his way around - used to live in England and now has ‘some sort of business here’ so hey you can ... read more