I’ve been quiet for a while as with everyone life has been quite different. Roger and I have been keeping busy with ‘Safe activities’, we are lucky to have outside space needing attention. Roger has resumed golf, playing mostly with our dear friend Kevin, occasionally with my bothers Martin & Murray. How my father would have loved to play with them all had he been here today…. I have enjoyed being able to complete business admin & bookeeping for both our business and daughter Joolia ( jooliagilveyaesthetics) in my own time, with minimum stress. I also decided to revamp and sort my entire wardrobe and donate to charity, something I may live to regret if my body keeps on growing…. I also joined a group of ladies that socialise once a month. It’s so good just to have that catch up and a good giggle. Roger & I took a trip to London for my birthday treat in August, we booked to see Van Gogh Immersive which was outstanding. The weather was great so walking around London was very enjoyable. We noticed the lack of foreign tourists and many empty office buildings. London still has that exciting vibe for me at any time. Ŵe also booked to see Olly Day at Cromer Pier & Gorleston Pavilion.
We have been desperately waiting for news on travel from the U.K. to the USA. Our son James, wife Leslie live in Manhattan with our grandson Alexander. We haven’t seen them in person since our Father’s Day trip to the USA in June 2019. I never envisaged a gap so long, once a year is difficult enough without the COVID months adding to the delayed visit. The news we had been waiting for came late September and I took a few seconds to book our flight to The big Apple before waiting for a final date from Mr Biden. Fortunately I booked it for late November in case there were issues. So here we are about to leave, after the longest 30 months of my life.
Saturday 20th November. We travel to Heathrow by train on Friday & stay overnight at the Sofitel. It’s actually on the airport so it’s a short walk the next day to check in and we had an early night after a delicious evening meal in the hotel restaurant.
After all the worrying about paperwork, a few frantic calls to my dear friend Jude Gudgin who had previously completed all needed for her grandson to visit her daughter in Boston, we completed the tests and the Verifly questionnaire and we’re able to finally check in for our flight. The flight was completely full but we had good seats in premium economy, the crew were brilliant, obviously glad to be back working, the food really tasty, a gin & tonic each and a red wine with lunch we both relaxed and enjoyed the films. I watched ‘Cruella’ which I loved and after a nap watched ‘Six minutes to midnight’ both excellent films.
As we approached the coast of North America I was overcome with emotion and started to worry that I would not control myself when I saw the children. James knows how emotional I am anyway as he has experienced it over the years every time we visit. We landed at 1400 ahead of time, excitedly disembarked the aircraft and joined the queue for immigration. As we were amongst the first off the aircraft I was not pleased when Roger decided he needed to loo which left us as near the back of the queue as others rushed in front, he seemed ages, i was not impressed. When through immigration we then had a long exasperated wait for our luggage. Half the plane received theirs and cleared customs whilst we waiting for nearly an hour with the other frustrated passengers. I had booked a car service through Booking.com and our concerned driver text me constantly for updates. Eventually the luggage arrived, we were in the car and off the the city. It’s 9c outside. We arrived at our hotel Park Central, recommended by our daughter in law, pleased to say we have a large revamped room with beautiful bathroom and the most comfortable bed ever. An added bonus we are just yards from James office and two blocks from Central Park. The journey from JFK usually takes around 40 minutes but seems to take forever. We checked in at 17.00 . Leslie has booked restaurants for the week as she says it’s so difficult to get reservation, restaurants are fully booked well ahead, we can always cancel if we change our plans. We are booked into ’Marea’ for 18.15 so a very quick shower and change and we are on our way three blocks to Central Park South. We are a tad early so decided wait at our table. It’s packed with very sophisticated people of various ages, we both love people watching but Roger is straight into the wine list and is engrossed when our Grandson approaches us. I will never forget that moment. I had been warning Alexander I wanted a big hug but I was so astounded how much he had grown that I was spellbound. He was wearing a dark jacket and blue check shirt echoing his Fathers and was so grown up and taller than me! Hard to believe he is only Twelve. The evening went so quickly, the food sumptuous and the conversation was full of excitement and catching up . James read us the diary of plans for the week, of course we are here for Thanksgiving but the highlight was our Christmas gift, we are booked to see Radio City Christmas Spectacular with The Rockettes. It’s almost 10.00 pm when we finish so we take our leave and head for bed happy but exhausted.
Sunday 21st November. 11c
8am. We need to be ready for the day as the day is action packed. The guys pick us up in the car, James has changed his BMW for a Porsche Macan since we last came, I am surprised by the space and speed. We head for Brooklyn where we are to watch our grandson in an Archery competition. It’s good to drive through Brookly as previously we have walked. There’s more to see as we head for the neighbourhood where the archery takes place. There are many children of various ages taking part. Alexander is fortunate to have his own very elaborate looking bow, I am informed it is compound bow. As we haven’t had breakfast James walks me to a nearby coffee shops where we have the most delicious coffee and a pasty whilst Leslie and Roger watch the competition start. James then takes Roger to the coffee shop and returns with coffee for Leslie. Alexander takes the competition in his stride, he is very focused. We don’t get the results until later in the week when the scores are counted. Next we leave for brunch in downtown Brooklyn. After we make our way to the Brooklyn museum, Leslie has managed to book tickets for the Dior Exhibit ( excited as I missed it in London) but we are early so take the time to visit the Andy Warhol exhibit on here at the same time. Although I am not a particular fan of Warhol it is very interesting and I take numerous photos. When the time slot is available we head for the Dior exhibition. I have to say it is without doubt one of the best exhibits I have ever seen. I am not only impressed by Dior himself and his designs but the people who design the set and exhibit are so talented it blows your breath away.
Liquid Tales 