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Mid-afternoon on a sunny Saturday we found ourselves hanging underground in SoHo with a bunch of people too-cool-for-daylight. Destination: ‘Fat Cat’: a shadowy hall of games where three rounds of pool went down to the soundtrack of a funky live jazz band. The ‘thwack’ of airborne ping-pong balls criss-crossing adrenalized foosball tournaments roused lazy beer-swilling scrabble contestants from their scholarly trances. This is the kind of covert inner-city gem you only discover accompanying a local in-the-know.
Our escorts today are in the process of documenting ‘Manhattan’s Definitive Guide to the Best Holes-In-The-Wall’. It’s gonna be a sell-out, trust me! Sameer and Kavya are the most effervescent, enthusiastic, New York-loving couple we’ve ever met, and they have unearthed every worthy culinary secret in the city. For lunch we grabbed deliciously succulent lamb from a hole-in-the-wall leaking a restless line of drooling patrons. Sitting in Washington Square amidst shady drug dealers and scamming ‘cash-for-win’ chess-players, our bee-stung lips oozed explosive hot sauce that left us all speechless for a good five minutes ... literally. Mmmm, chili! Afterwards, we slunk down the street in a endorphin-rush stupor to revive our sorry selves with lavish frozen mochas and raspberry crumble cheesecake.
We’ve moved
Idiot tourists.
Beware the swine flu...into our tangerine shoebox on the Upper East Side. It’s cozy and absolutely fantastic to have our own place for the first time in a year, but we miss Downtown, (where all the action is). Our new neighborhood is posh and clean and full of cats to pat. Unfortunately the internet connection in our shoebox is useless, so we’re on a mission to find a good local cafe with free WiFi.
I guess I’ve gotta be careful what I wish for in Manhattan. I’ve always said I want to work within walking distance of work, and I got my wish when I scored a back-up job at Barnes & Noble’s brand new Museum Mile store last week. Whilst I’m waiting for the SoHo job to happen (they’ve informed me the position is dependent upon a particular project that won’t begin till June), I’ll be surrounded by one of my main loves in life: books galore!!! I’m actually really excited about it. They’re a great, well-run, positive company and I get massive discounts on all merchandise. I can ‘borrow’ any and every brand new hardcover book that comes out, (booksellers should be knowledgeable). They also offer health insurance for part-time
Mr. Big - Chris Noth
Celebrity Sighting #5 employees, (rare and necessary), and they own three in-house publishing companies (good contacts for a budding author). I plan to keep working there once I score an architectural job. If only they paid a little more ...
Lucky Dave spotted the celebrity of all New York celebrities yesterday. 'Sex and the City's' own Mr. Big! Tragically I missed Big leaving Union Square Starbucks as I was stuck in our stupid cellphone company store arguing with the head office about our failing international text messages. (We're giving them one month before we switch companies, so sooner or later contact with Oz will blossom!)
A few hours later we scored a real live celebrity photograph. Tim Robbins was carving up the roller hockey court in the West Village, his grey mullet flapping in the wind and looking decidedly un-Shawshank-Redemption-esque. Still, a celebrity is a celebrity.
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Paul
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To help you settle into your new job I recommend you watch all three seasons of Black Books. Good luck, Manny...