All Springy, NY

Landing in NY for a week in spring means: lots of walking, cherry blossoms, blazing sun, temptation to buy stuff, brunch in Brooklyn with friends (brekky quesedilla? Yes please!), good coffee, better pizza, Momofuku pork buns and red velvet cake ice cream with cousin Mieke, 24-hr Apple store, Zabar's, excellent family Easter dinner, post-dinner walk in Central Park to check out the rollerblading fabulists, Purl, the stunning New York Public Library, meeting Samski's good pal, songwriter Paul Evans, walking the Brooklyn Bridge for the sunny-day view, and not a small sense of liberation.

Best cheese toast ever, really.

Hudson River blues, man

Central Park Easter afternoon

Paul Evans, lifelong Manhattanite, hit songwriter and all-round lovely guy, gets his oats.

Steamed pork bun picnic - mmmmmm

Manhattan in our sights

Goodbye, stuff. See you in Portland!

"We don't need to buy another thing, ever."

I could only nod numbly in agreement with my man Dan last nite as we finished organising five years of stuff for today's shipment (London to Portland).

The movers arrived at 8:30 am. After a couple of hours, one politely asked if we could switch from Radio 4 to Magic FM. So today's minor chaos has been accompanied by every Hit Of The '80s you can possibly imagine, plus a few more. Top singalong tunes: Fast Car and Who's That Girl (me), Don't You Want Me (mover dude), I Will Always Love You (other mover dude).

Six hours later, and I'm living out of a suitcase – for the next month or so. Then we get a bit of our stuff back via int'l air freight and MoveCube (or whatever it's called that's shifting our New Orleans stuff). Give it 2-3 months and the remainder of the stuff arrives.

So surely it's time for the old George Carlin rant on stuff? Enjoy and be glad you're not the one orchestrating a transatlantic move.



"That's the whole meaning of life, isn't it? Trying to find a place for your stuff!"

Love at first sight...

...but it would never fit me anyway. Just as well, most of the things in this vintage shop down the street from worky are way overpriced. But it still gave me a little thrill of girly 'ooh!' as I stepped off the bus yesterday morning.

Honesty

Someone on my street is way too honest.

Springy

So I think Spring started back around Mothering Sunday, in late March, if this photo on the day in Hampstead is anything to go by.

We were even able to sit comfortably outside Chaiwalla, where Tom, Dan and I took Jacqui for tea.

Excellent chai, second-rate samosas. We ordered two rounds of each (hungry) and I took home two clay cups (allowed). Would def. stop by for the tea again...

But late March really put on a show...

...so much so, I thought this excellent cherry tree deserved a hug.

That same week I spotted interesting houseboats docking along the Thames path where I run at lunchtime, near work...

...plus more amazing spring petalling going on along my walk to the bus.

Now, this was part of a detour I took in Richmond a few days ago. It already felt rather fairytale...

...and then the path abruptly ended at this metal gate. How Secret Garden is that? It turns out to be Petersham Gardens, which is open 11-4 today, as a very prosaic plastic-encased sign told me when I peered thru the bars.

And on the way back, I noticed my New Year's Eve friend 'dipping down to drink' had sprouted a 'fro. There's an incredible amount of green in all shades busting out everywhere - reminds me v much of spring 2005, when we landed in London...

Your video valentine

A little ukulele love for you in 'Tonite You Belong to Me' from The Jerk, with Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters. If you hate Steve Martin, you'll really hate this, but I like the dorkiness-to-romance ratio. Dan and I watched the film recently specifically because we'd heard the song and the bit of dialogue afterwards as part of a very innaresting mix by seelunluft.

So Happy Fakey Hallmark Holiday, and big love to all my pals.

PS: Sorry the video's not embedded, that function was disabled.

Baby's first race, next Saturday

Got my number in the post on Friday for the Love Run 10k in Battersea park this Valentine's Day, my First Race Ever – not counting the ritual humiliation of elementary school 'fun' days and highschool P.E. Yes, my friends, this one is self-inflicted. I just made it to up to 10k this weekend after a few weeks' gradual training. That's 20 mins and a couple of miles longer than I've been used to doing over the last year or so.

Here's hoping the weather doesn't see fit to have another wintry laugh on us. I didn't get to run for 5 days b/c the sidewalks were still so icy. But especially on the first day, the snowfall made everything seem wondrous...bit like this:

(Click to view larger image)