A Small Bite of the Big Apple

I have been back a week now and am over the jet-lag. Time to tell what my friend, Peg and I got up to in New York.

We stepped out of our hotel (The New Yorker on Eighth Avenue and to be recommended) into the dazzle and cacophany of a New York evening. The first thing to do was to find a show to see later in the week so we wandered along the streets around Broadway.

Most of the shows were musicals which we did not want and narrowed our choice down to three plays. There were no seats to be had for Oleanna by David Mamet or A Steady Rain by Keith Huff (starring Daniel Craig) but we managed to get the last two seats on Wednesday's performance for God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza. Some of you will remember that I recently directed Yasmina Reza's play Art with our local amateur dramatic society. As the seats cost $136 dollars each I was hoping that we had made a good decision.

We had also hoped to take in an opera on the Thursday evening but they were performing The House of the Dead which we were not keen on.

The Metropolitan Opera House

We were then accosted by sellers of tickets on the Gray Line tour buses. As neither of us had been to New York before we decided this was a good idea. We went for the full package of four tours; the Downtown Loop, the Uptown Loop, the Brooklyn Loop and the Night Loop.

7th Avenue at night

We started immediately with the Night Loop. Apart from the journey itself which lasted about two hours with a commentary pointing out the landmarks and historical connections the tour guides tended to be commedians, adding their own idiosyncratic style which we found a hoot.

Over the next two days we completed the tours, hopping on and off to visit places of interest on the way. Up to the Metropolition Museum of Art where we spent four hours. Around the streets of Harlem, China Town, SoHo, Brooklyn, Greenich Village and the rest. We were given facts and figures - mostly now forgotten I regret to say, but always with an amusing delivery that added interest.

Roof Garden Panorama

Anyone visiting the Met should not omit the roof garden. From here you get the a panoramic view of New York.

So, what of The God of Carnage? Did we get our money's worth? We surely did, but what surprised us most was the the audience. From the delivery of the first line they were responsive in a way we have not seen before. The laughed at lines that we did not find funny, and at the end the performers got a standing ovation. A good evening and a play I should like to direct one day perhaps although not an easy one to stage.

View of Central Park

We crossed Central Park and it did not seem a scary place at all - mind it was mid-afternoon and groups of school children where to be seen about and dog walkers everywhere. The autumn colours were splendid. We spent the afternoon in the Natural History Museum.

On the Thursday morning - saving this treat almost to the last - we met Francis for lunch at Edgar's Cafe, named after Edgar Allen Poe, who had some connection with the building. The three of us had a delightful time together. Frances is a very attractive lady and such good company. The time just sped by.

We had planned a walk in Central Park to follow lunch but alas the weather was not on our side and Peg and I were ill-equipped for rain.

Frances and me.

Me and Peg

On the following morning we took the subway to World Trade Centre site to look at the rebuilding going on there. Even after all these years there is a sombre atmosphere present despite all the bustle of the work and the crowds rushing by.

The World Trade Centre Site

Later we caught the ferry boat from the Battery to sail around the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Peg had a list of ancestors that were immigrants that she had hoped to find some trace of on the Island but we did not have time to get off and explore before we returned to our hotel in time to catch our flight home. Peg has plans to return next year.

View of Lower Manhatten from the ferry boat to Ellis Island

GITE FOR RENT

The Gite is for rent next year 2010 from February.

Here are some pictures and details:

The accomodation comprises: stairs to front door (own entrance), which opens to kitchen/living room with fridge, washing machine and gas cooker. Table to seat 4.










Hall with shower room off with separate toilet.




Two double bedooms, one with double bed, the other two single beds.


The furnishings are basic but cheerful. The rent is low.
€150.00 per week March and April, €200.00 per week May to September, €150.00 per week thereafter. Gas and electricity included.


The house and gite are set in 8 hectares of field, forest, and river which is available to explore. It is quiet and peaceful. Come and get away from the hurly-burly of city life.

Read the rest of the blog: www.moulinduclout.blogspot.com for further information. If you are interested contact: readingdog@mac.com.

Three More Grandchildren

Yes, three, all at once! Aged 18, 15 and 10. A boy and two girls. How did this happen?

Apart from my three natural children Jim and I adopted another child; a mixed race girl aged 11 months. This was in 1963.

I think we were both rather idealistic and a bit naïve. Our previous two children had given us no trouble and we assumed that given the same conditions of love, comforts and attention an adopted child would be no different. We were wrong.

From the start she was nothing like our other two in temperament, development or behaviour. We struggled and, I think, made many mistakes – at least I did. I couldn’t believe that I couldn’t get it right.

In 1965 we had another ‘natural’ (for want of a better word) child, another boy. He was no trouble either, being a very placid child - he still is.

By the time Ellen (not her real name) was in secondary school her behaviour was causing concern outside the family situation. She was the first candidate for the ‘sin bin’ at her school because of her disruption in class and we were having real problems ourselves. We sought professional help and this eventually resulted in her attending a school for maladjusted children and subsequently she went into care.

Our lives now returned to something like normal although I think that the previous trauma has had a lasting effect on the relationship that I have with the remaining three children.

We continued to see Ellen at intervals until she left school when she went to London to work. We lost contact for a few years and then she rang us out of the blue and we exchanged visits. She had matured into a pleasant young woman and we got on well. She told us that she had a West Indian boyfriend and that she was about to visit his family in Jamaica. She said that she would contact us on her return. That was about 1987. We heard nothing.

I made several attempts to find her over the years but knew that if she had married or was living in Jamaica I was going to find it difficult.

A few weeks ago I was messing about on Ancestry.co.uk and turned up her name as having married in 1990 in London. I now had what I believed was her married name and started searching. When I had an address I wrote asking if she was the Ellen I thought she was. I heard nothing for six weeks and assumed that I had it wrong. Then I got an email during the time we were in France telling me that she was our Ellen, that she was married – now separated and had three children.

We are now emailing each other trying to catch up on all the missing years. It is so exciting. I am looking forward to meeting up with my new grandchildren when we can arrange it.

I hope that we can make a better relationship together now we are both older and wiser.