well i finally got round to finding out what a blog is, and this is it (apparently). i'll post these up as well as emails, to accommodate technophobes like me. if you don't want to be included in those emails, let me know..
blog 1:
well, so far new york has been a blur of jet-lagged greyness and sleepy restlessness. the flight was great, fluffy mr P slept thru most of it and only once made a bid for freedom - at the x-ray bit of security, when i had to take him out to have the cat-box x-rayed. he saw all the people and he tried to leg it. the security guy thought this was hilarious and was pawing him making 'aww' sounds while padraig was drawing blood over my shoulder and i was looking at the x-ray machine, then to the cat-box sitting beside it, to the security guy pawing padraig and making him even more freaked. a flat 'any time you like' and yer man got on with his job. all the stress and hassle of getting him to the vet weeks ago, to get him micro-chipped and get the vet to write a wee letter saying that he wasn't infected with disease, which was apparently absolutely essential, was of no consequence going thru customs. it seems that you can carry anything at all in with you so long as you carry it in a bag that hangs at hip-height.. thereby screening it from the guy in the booth, whose job it is to protect the nation from disease-wielding terrorists. great.
i'm sitting here at home writing this, in this lovely apartment. i doubt i'll actually be able to afford such a great place when i move on in december (note to all those coming over: this is a great gaff. you'll be very comfortable staying here. no such promises after december 15). it's a one-bed with a study, a huge bedroom and big and bright living room; exposed brick, wooden floors throughout, blah. massive couch that turns into a more comfortable double bed than most you've ever slept in. spent the most of the day (after waking up at 5am, not being able to lie there, contemplating going to south ferry municipal buildings near wall st just to enjoy the spectacle of the tai chi enthusiasts doing their thing as the sun comes up and and getting up to unpack and pottering about, ringing home and ringing rory - the chile - in sydney for an hour) shopping in downtown brooklyn. this is the downtown brooklyn black district that stayed in the 70s. geezers in dodgy leather jackets and sean coombs sunglasses, shops with tatty signs selling cheap gik and mega-amounts of *bling*, overweight ladies in cup-cake jeans and cheap shoes, shops selling underwear and computer keyboards. it reminded me of birmingham (uk), except it was missing the pall of depression and the pissy weather. so, headed off to get the essentials; buy a 'cell' phone (hilarious episode with a black ali g character in the shop my side of the counter, who turned out to be a bona fide T-mobile dealer assisting the woman doing the sales on t'other side of the counter, obviously doing that job as a supplement income for his other more varied pursuits), food (too much to say about that), booze and cat food. got all the basics and walked back. it was a beautiful walk .. had a brief encounter with a squirrel who was collecting nuts around the base of a tree on the street. he saw me, paused, i paused, he ran. i got some nuts, walked over and looked up thru the branches and caught sight of him. he stared down at me and we had a brief nature-nurture moment. it was lovely. i threw the nuts down on the ground for him and got looked at by a nature-deficit passer-by. and the sun came out. it had been misty this morning when i climbed the steps to the roof at 5am. the dawn was in its initial stages and the skyline's contrast was blurred but you could make out the sweep of the river. it was great. but coming home today, the rain was gone and the sun was beaming, keeping the dry winter air in the shadows. but by the time i was heading back, i got the distinct feeling of being strung out on that too much daylight, not enough sleep vibe; the result of flying after not sleeping enough after being boozed up on a five-day bender. staying in tonight.
on the up side, i've been sitting here listening to a cd given to me by "the legendary finbar boyle" (official title - the phoenix), by a man called michael marrinan, who sings a ballad about new york that became a mainstay for the last few months.. after i'd decided to move over here last july, i got a tad obsessive about getting back here and getting all the factors into play to make it happen. during this time finbar gave me a copy of marrinan's cd and while it's old school irish ballad sentiment and sound, it cuts to the core like only that can. great stuff. if you're inclined, you'll get it in claddagh records. totally worth it for track 2 alone. imagine a co clare ballad with a lamenting air singing about the big apple, if you can.. i quote:
oh i love to be lodged in the place where you can't go astray
oh i love to be found in the streets that run straight
oh i love new york, to walk in the crowds all alone
i'm homesick for new york
i hate leaving new york
homesick for new york
though new york it was never my home.
it was a bit of a mantra for me these last few months, just to get me thru the enduring hell of trying to organise everything in order to end my life there and to get me here. if it got me thru, i thank you finbar. and hearing it new in new york, it sort of fits as a bridge, a song that belongs in the process, not in the arriving. i thank you anyway finbar, cos it's a truly beautiful song.
speaking of verses that are playing a hand in this, so far mostly-solo experience, i got an email from an ex-work colleague today, quoting some poet speaking of precipices (maybe that was my word, not his) between the past and the future and all you can see is the present. all great stuff.
"The Sun-Dial at Wells College" (New York State)
The shadow by my finger cast
Divides the future from the past:
Before it, sleeps the unborn hour,
In darkness, and beyond thy power:
Behind its unreturning line,
The vanished hour, no longer thine:
One hour alone is in thy hands,
The now on which the shadow stands.
~ Henry Van Dyke 1911
having a wee mark geary moment now (second album), but earlier 'love and theft' (recent vintage dylan) was getting an airing. and the very excellent 'elbow' album, 'the leaders of the free world (are all just little boys throwing stones)' has been a constant for the last last few weeks - thank you dave and alison!!! - hey ali, how's the house?? - good memories and fantastic album (i've been handing copies out to people - go buy it if you haven't got it; a classic). all this, nothing to the impending arrival after rory (brother) sent me a link for the new radiohead album - free if you want it to be free on the web right now. those who want to pay for it online, can. the ethos of capitalism is taking a right thrashing as a result. all good. but the record company still wants to keep the band on and release their album in january for the regular fee. 1.2 million copies "sold" already. apparently it's their best for 10 years. i'll send round a link to anyone who wants it.
there were pictures taken on the final night of the mini-marathon bender that i'll post up on facebook. the stags head. shame on you who didn't make it; david keane, you're first in the spotlight. great night. the usual irish experience of introducing gangs of people to each other, where they either already know each other or where the odd party-member got a prompt to launch into lengthy conversations with a complete stranger that lead to them both heading off into the night not to be seen for several hours. una, next up. great to see you joe; spoke to the chile earlier, great form. he can't wait to move here.
anyway. this has probably gone on long enough. dave, if you get this; in the hell of the last evening, you kindly packed my laptop and didn't pack my laptop lead.. it'll be still hanging around the back of the tv.. went to buy another one today and got stung for $50- from some guy with a successful selling technique and a jewish air. to be fair to him, although i was bartering him down with the inescapably solid line that i had another one at home that i could get posted out for mere pence, the thing was originally $80 and $120 in some other high street store. the pain and effort of not having internet was too much to bear and he won out. welcome to new york, i thought.
better go.
hope you're all well. and sorry to those of you who didn't get text messages from me after i landed here... my irish mobile phone is stubborn at the best of times, but it point blank refused to send any messages from here to anyone at all. fucker. once i get all my details from its memory banks it's being put out on the roof at dawn in a blindfold and being shot off the balcony. video to follow on youtube. piece of crap. new number in new york is available thru email. usual gmail account best to get me on. more thrilling episodes to follow, no doubt. if you can't bear to endure them (answers on a postcard), don't be shy. life has to be more enthralling somewhere else.. taking these in large doses can't be easy.
thinking of you all and hoping this gets to you all ok.
stay in touch,
love suzanne
xxxxxx
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