Madison Square Park

So now that I'm back online I can let you know what I've been up to. I'm going to start with something that makes up most of my days and that's obviously walking Paco. Our closest park is Madison Square Park, which is nestled between the Empire State building and the Flatiron building. It's weird having these two icons making up my everyday images especially as it's not like every time I leave my house in London I see the Houses of Parliament or the London Eye! It's a beautiful park although our main trouble has been the attitude to dogs. They are not allowed to run free like they do in London and have designated dog areas. These are not grass like back home so they stink! Even Paco hates them (although I think for a dog that's rather rich). Anyway this is only important as it's meant that he's been behaving very funnily. He hasn't settled in at all. Which considering we're trying to settle in too makes it just another thing to worry about. 

The best part of this park is that it's home to The Shake Shack. These famous burgers have queues stretching out of the park everyday. And we've even tried going at 10:00pm thinking we were being clever and there was a queue! I'm guessing we'll just have to man up and wait in the queue like everybody else. These burgers better live up to the hype.

The waiting game

Most of you know that recently Hipster Dufus purchased me this beautiful MacBook Air. I've already detailed my issues with lot being able to use it and the same still stands now. We've been busy finding out more about where we live and getting to know the surrounding areas. I still can't post though... Major bummer...

How to keep in contact

The last time I posted I was boarding a plane and almost a week later and I still hadn't posted anything. So what happened? Some of you might be aware that my wonderful husband, Hipster Dufus, purchased me an all powerfull MacBook Air. Just in time for me not to be able to do much as squeak about not being able to contact people. I did however encounter two problems.

The first being the internet, we still have not had it installed in our new home which means i have no way of posting items. What about cafes with wifi? This brings me on to my second problem, Microsoft Office. As you know Mac's do not come with office and while we do have it already, the CD license is currently somewhere in the Atlantic as part of our sea freight.

Thankfully the iPhone can be a powerful little tool, and while I wouldn't want to use it all the time I found a few apps that will still let me post almost in the same style I currently use, from taking the photos, editing to composing a post and sharing it. So can I get away with it? Here are just a few shots from my first week as a New Yorker.

Bon Voyage

This is it, literally sitting on the plane right now. I've had a very emotional goodbye with family and I don't think I'm done yet. Going to sit back, watch a film, cry, sleep. Then I'll see you on the other side. Let's do this!

Keep on moving

After years of hoping, months of planning, weeks of waiting, days of organising and hours of cleaning finally the night has come. This is the night before the flight. Hipster Dufus and I have literally just finished the last few things we needed to complete now. I'm tired, exhausted, and mentally drained. I'm not sure what to feel now, all I know is that it doesn't feel quite real just yet. Every stage has simply been met with a new wave of emotions.

There was the anxiety of having the flat in piles in a corner waiting for the arrival of the removal men (who never actually showed up, they forgot they were supposed to come...) Then there was the numbness from watching strangers pack up your life, and before you know it all your possessions are simply sitting in pile of cardboard boxes. Finally the most daunting one has got to be the feeling of an empty flat. Imagine what you felt when you first moved into your home unfurnished. It's the same feeling but in reverse. Bewilderment. What do I do now? Everything echoes, time drags (this is probably the lack of T.V. or CD player) and your home doesn't feel like yours any more.

Well that was a bit of a rant really! It wouldn't be real if I made it out to be amazing. The prospect of a new city is incredible but what comes before is not so fun. The process hasn't been easy and we haven't received much help from relevant organisations. I was expecting it to be better planned, to go a lot more smoothly especially since this is a regular occurrence. What we found is that no one really cares. Everyone has a job to do and they don't care about what that means for you as the person that has to live this life, everyone is simply out to tick boxes. I have to say that at this point I'm really looking forward to the other side.

Museum Cafe

With some friends all you need to do is keep it simple. Meeting up with friends as often as I have been has really begun to put a strain on the bank balance, however there aren't many cafes that stay open past 6:00pm when most of us are finishing work! The wonderfully laid back Hurwundeki was in this case the answer to our problems. A cafe by day, at night it serves up Korean food until 10pm as well as its normal coffee shop goods. The perfect setting to meet up with my MA girls. The best thing about friends who work in the same industry is the way we can talk about personal and professional topics moving seamlessly between the two without lowering the tone. It was such a warm night, with good vibes and silky conversations. Bliss x