We essentially spent the weekend doing a lot of hard traipsing around checking out kid's places which was well worth it cos some of them were lovely. During said traipsing I was able to see some fab stuff including the New Yo
rk Public Library (where Carrie and Big were supposed to get married....oh so sad) which was incredibly beautiful.Times Square for the first time was pretty special too - I felt like I needed some kind of theme music playing - Alicia Keys would be the obvious choice but anything full of huge vocals, power chords and sparkly drums could work. Next time I walk through I'll bust out the iPod and slap on some Boston maybe. It was like going back into daylight from the dark, cos the lights are just so bloody bright it is mental. The whole place just looks like each building is having a massive party on its own wall. I'm pretty sure I was doing wide-eyed excited beaming and picture-taking the entire time so luckily
we were in a cab where only Lynne could see me (Iris was probably watching the taxi telly:D)
SoHo house was tres exciting - tray sheek, all dark wallpaper and green chandeliers and low leather sofas and stuff. Also kid's room downstairs with unbelievably patient childcare people there to read stories, do puzzles and generally entertain your kids for a while! I went down with Iris for her first time though and she was very good. Though it's hard for an English kid to play games like name the Muppets - cos she just don't get the education back home! Bring back the Muppets. And Sesame St. Incidentally many parts of New York do look just like Sesame Street and also Avenue Q - any day now I will see some puppets doing a dance involving dustbin lids and sticking their heads out of windows.
Also got my first glimpse of Bagatelle - ahahahahahahaaaa! Words cannot describe! The doorman let me stick my head in to check it out and I was just gobsmacked. This was 3 O'clock in the afternooon. And there were girls in minidresses dancing on the table. And Daft Punk was blasting out through the entire building and down the street. And it was dark with disco lights going. And people were sat in the middle of all this calmly eating lunch and chatting.
Going there! Me and Lynne to babysitter: 'Yeah yeah we're just going for a nice quiet brunch in Soho, it will be lovely and civilised *snigger snigger*' *run off to drink champagne and dance over eggs benedict*
We took a wander down Bleecker, known for being the stomping ground of arty bohemian types in like the 70
s and now home to a number of gorgeous little shops and boutiques. Yes please! Also a cafe that did THE most amazing cupcakes - I had an oreo cookie one and it was fanfeckingtastic with actual oreo in the actual cake bit, plus choccie buttercream icing made with cream cheese, plus oreo cookie on top plus a gooey choccie centre! Phwooooaaaar.Sunday night Lynne had to go for dinner with her theatre peoples to discuss important issues such as rollerskating. No really I think they had to talk a lot about getting a bigger rehearsal space and some other highly necessary discussions. So that left me and Iris to have a quiet night in - she was thankfully v. good, went to sleep after I did a lot of storytelling (is it bad that I had trouble remembering the story of the Three Little Pigs?) And I had a nice time watching some weird American TV and eating poached eggs with salad and veggies. THAT'S RIGHT, I COOKED! One huge reason why this is a great place for Tessa: People don't cook here! Waaaaay! Ahhhh in fact that's a whole story in itself. Let me tell you the Tale of Trader Joe's.
Once upon a time there were 3 English girls who came to New York, lived in a sublet and needed some groceries. They asked all their NY friends where they could find a good supermarket that didn't cost the Earth (coughWholeFoodsMarketcough) and were recommended Trader Joe's by one Danny Bouvery. What they didn't take into account was that Danny did not have a 3 year old in tow and therefore did not have the same shopping needs as them. They did not however realise this til it was too late and they were in Trader Joe's with a child who was v. unhappy at being woken up (but we had to wake her or she wouldn't sleep that night) and was making a lot of noise about it.
Trader Joe's was a bizarre experience - as soon as we walked in the door we were asked if we were in line. Err...hang on, don't we have to put some stuff in our trolley first? Or is this a supermarket that only sells trolleys and air? Whaaaa? Eventually we discovered that the queue for the tills literally started at the door and snaked its way all the way round the entire supermarket, so people shopping had to contend with people queueing, other people shopping and TJ staff stacking shelves in EVERY AISLE. What a crackers way of doing it! We were advised by a young couple to have a shopper and a queuer, which would have worked had Iris not been working up a full-blown crying fit. So I dashed outside to take her for a walk which worked wonders and she was fine, and poor Lynne had to face the store alone. Narrow aisles + too many people + a never-ending queue = nightmare.
At the end though we decided Trader Joe's redeemed itself somewhat by having the most friendly staff in the World - there were millions of them around so we weren't short of people to help, and a girl actually carried our groceries down the road for us and put us in a cab home. That's service. Although she did give it away somewhat by saying 'we have to be extra nice cos we know it would be such a hellish experience otherwise'. She was not wrong.
So that was our first experience of food shopping in NY and this is why it is a city for single people who don't cook. Hmmm, if only I was one of those. OH NO WAIT! Hahahaaaa yes. We will not be taking advice from Danny Bo on anything more - two opposite perspectives on life, it just doesn't work.
Stay tuned for the Tessa and Iris Chronicles.xxxxxxxxxx
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