Deor

To be fair I’ve been home for nearly three weeks now, the vast majority of that spent working in the joyous Cambridge: engineering ho!  Since returning things have been rather fun: Quakers decided to hold gay marriages and the NHS has been slagged off continuously in the US press.  I wish I had been in the US this past week to counter some of the just downright lies spread about the NHS.  But alas…

For those of you who were worrying: I do not intend to keep this on as a constant blog.  You can rest easy.

All I have left to say is to thank Michael who is hosting this site for me most wonderfully.  He’s sorted out all the interwebbyblago things that I lack the skill to do.  If you’re looking for someone to host your site you can contact him at: admin@x3n.me.uk

Cheerio.

• Entering interwebsilence. Operation: Back to Blighty underway. #
• Back in Blighty. Grey sky and drizzle. Good ol’ Heathrow. #
• Just realised how angry the Tubes makes me. Not sure I’ll enjoy the 400 mins to St Pancras… #
• 40. Stupid predictive text. #

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• @WillBeharrell Now don’t be frightened of the nice scientists and engineers; we’re people too! in reply to WillBeharrell #
• Being out the country for a wedding you weren’t invite to is marginally better than for one you were… #
• Almost time to head for the airport… packing not yet complete. >_< #

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• Anyone at #YMG09 able to tell me what time Epilogue is? Monday is my last night in the USA and I may join you in spirit for it… #
• Look me about 90 minutes to get from Times Square to the Lower East Side. Gotta love delayed subway. Met Bellamy’s American Twin: ace! #
• Getting to Newark Airport from Manhattan is rather challenging… and they seem to wish to rip you off as much as possible. #
• @GuinevereStar Thank you! I’ll be observing with you in spirit: either from the roof garden or Central Park. Probably the latter. in reply to GuinevereStar #
• @mrelbow I’m due to leave tomorrow! So get in touch quickly: texting my British number always works! in reply to mrelbow #
• Dented my phone’s charger during the night… Still seams to work but most annoying. #

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• Scratch that: probably MoMa. #
• MOMA even. #
• @paulcarpenter The Da Vinci Tweet? in reply to paulcarpenter #
• I’m not at #ymg09 as I’m going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Central Park, New York, New York. For real this time. #

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I’ve actually been here quite awhile now: just far too busy to actually sit down and type at you all.  Arrived down from Boston on Monday; Matt and I braving the New Jersey buses together to get out to Clifton where we spent the first few nights.

The NJ to NYC commute was about an hour at the best of times; neglecting the times when the bus just didn’t show.  We managed to get round the standard touristy stuff: Liberty and Ellis Islands, the United Nations and I made a solo trip out to Staten Island to see Tash.

The Islands were actually very good: reasonably priced ($20 for ferry and audio tour) and on Ellis Island especially the tour was interesting, engaging and with plenty of flexibility.  I could have easily spent another hour or two wandering around all the exhibits!  Some fascinating stories and not as prone to over romantising as it could be.

The United Nations was a bit of a disappointment.  The buildings are really showing their age: a bit run down, out of date…  The public basement area reminds me of an old town centre shopping centre that has seen better days; the exhibit space was totally inadequate for the pretty fantastic things that have been given as gifts to the UN by countries all over the world.  Could be spruced up!

The main chamber hasn’t changed since the ’70s (rather like most of New York) but at least that is going to be renovated soon; in fact the whole complex is going to be ‘under construction’ for the next decade or so.  Thankfully.  Amusingly, due to the strict alphabetical ordering of seating, in the chamber the UK is directly in front of Afghanistan and diagonally across from Zimbabwe…  No tension there then.

Staten Island… not the most exciting of places in the world but got a tour of the fort there whilst Tash was working.  It’s an impressive building, never used in conflict that is not just, well, decaying.  It has a lot of potential as something like, say, Oxford Castle.  However: it is protected by the National Park Service who are determined to maintain it ‘as it was originally’.  Except of course that there is no ‘original’ as it was in use for about a hundred years by different parts of the US military.  Given they have no budget with which to do this it seems destined to decay indefinitely with only the occasional tourist tour group.

Finally the highlight of these few days: light aircraft trip down the Hudson, across Central Park (thank you La Guardia) , down the East River, twice around Liberty and then back up the Hudson towards New Jersey.  Fun huh?

• At the UN. It needs a good lick of paint! #
• UN Photo exhibition: picture of 12 yr old boy, been working the streets in Bangkok for three years. Horribly ‘aged’ for his years. #
• Just off to fly around Manhattan. #
• I flew over Central Park in a plane! #
• I flew around Manhattan in a plane! #

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• Just by World Trade Center. Construction site. Still getting 9/11 flashbacks. Chills. #
• @narflet Yes, we wandered around until we got a decent view… Difficult! Centre should be free really. in reply to narflet #
• Matt, Tash and I met up in New York. One Master’s Scholar short of a country. #

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• @narflet Here! Well, New Jersey. Went through New York to get here in reply to narflet #

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• Went to Bedford, MA. Only a few miles from Cambridge, MA. Even used to be connected by a now defunct railway… Like home much? #
• Start spreading the news… #
• I’m leaving today… #
• I want to be a part of it… #
• New York! New York! #

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