Disappointed of NYC

I've nearly recovered from my disappointment of last night cancelled game. Several beers in the nearest pub have left me nursing a nice hangover today. The game ( v. Tampa Bay Rays) has been re-scheduled to the 22nd September. So we can either hang around here for a couple of months or fly back then. The tickets we have are still valid for that game, or if we cannot make that then we can exchange the ticket for a rain check, which entitles us to a ticket for any other home game in the next 12 months. Hence the term! I bought our tickets on a market place called StubHub, so I guess I will just have to put them up for sale again and hope they go. The same tickets for tonights game are going at double what I paid for them because of the Jeter effect. (Look it up).

I've been wanting to buy a hat for some time now. Unfortunately I have an enormous fat head (8 1/4 cap when I was at school) and according to Teresa I don't suit them. I've looked at the trilby - "No, it wont make you dance like Justin Timberlake" (I thought it was more Sinatra-like). I've tried baseball caps, apparently they don't work for me either. I was at the cricket with Teresa's dad last week (it rained then too!) and he looked very cool in his baseball cap. Why isn't it happening for me? Teresa suggested a do-rag but as Homer said, "I'll go with the muumuu, I don't want to look ridiculous" . The upshot of all this is that I've got a bright red beezer and a burnt forehead.

We finished off our 2 day bus tour, with a tour Downtown. We got off at Battery Park and swiftly got back on. It was packed with bloody tourists. The guides on the buses have varied. The bad ones are unintelligible (too fast, no pointing, heavy accents) but the good ones are brilliant. Their historical knowledge is really informative and they also share a bit about themselves, comparing their rental charges with those of the apartments we are passing, showing us where they met their wives or the concerts they had been to at MSG. Passing through all the districts it was interesting to learn about the original ethnic communities that had settled in each area and how this had changed over the years. Most immigrants from the late 1800's to the mid 1900's had come to NY to escape persecution in their own countries and had been welcomed with open arms by America. They seem genuinely proud of this fact, and rightly so. Thus the sonnet engraved on the Statue of Liberty:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Bit philosophical there, better move on. We finished off with a 90 minute boat tour from Midtown on the west to Midtown on the east side and back, via the Statue of Liberty. We didn't think we would be impressed by the Statue. We had never gone before for that reason, but it was very impressive. Also the view of the city from the sea/river? is outstanding. I will try to put up some photos later. I've taken nearly 1500 so far, I bet Pete can't wait to see them all. The 2 day bus/boat pass at $44 is an absolute bargain, it gives you the lie of the land loads of history and facts, it also allows you to get around the city for 2 days, without having to use the subway. Having been in Midtown and Downtown, it was a pleasure to get back to The Village. Its still pretty noisy and congested, but an oasis compared to the rest of the city.

We were in the Blind Tiger on Bleecker Street last night, managed to grab a seat and start drinking away the frustration of the wet journey to Yankee Stadium. They have 28 beers on tap, the lowest ABV was 5.3% and they went up to 12%! We had 3 pints (Teresa's was on one from CA @ 9.6%), we got talking to some guys, marriage, relationships Blair/Bush Obama, mid-term elections, baseball, the usual stuff. They bought us a drink, etc. etc.. No food, grabbed a couple of slices on the way home, more beer. Teresa was pretty drunk by now and went off to bed. I stayed up and watched 2 episodes of Frasier that I had never seen before (Amazing! I thought I'd seen them all). Thus you find me here with aforementioned hangover. Teresa just said to me, "I thought I was going to throw up last night, I had the spins and everything. But fortunately I passed out before I was ill". Thats my girl!