Voluntarily Mugged in Times Square!

Tonya has just posted a comment saying "What is the CD picture of Andy?". I'm glad I have become good friends with Tonya as otherwise I might be offended by the fact that she has expertly managed to detect the one picture associated with a ridiculous story and highlight it to the world!

The picture I think she is referring to is this one:


I'd like to say that this was a picture of me with a famous rap star...Fifty Cent...P Diddy....some one like that... but we all know the story isn't going to pan out like that.

I'd just like to start by saying, in my defence, I had just stepped off a plane so I was tired, jet-lagged, etc.

So we were in times square and the guy in the picture stops me in the street. Clare knew right from the start where it was heading but what you can't see in the picture is the oblivious bubble I'm standing in! The guy tells me he's DJ BlingMan (or something). He's filming for MTV and can I look up at the top of the tall sky-scraper, where there's a camera(!), and repeat a message along the lines of "Yo, whasup, this is DJ BlingMan on MTV!" I do this, and then he puts his cap on my head and gets Clare to take a picture.

I'm having a great time, grinning like an idiot. Clare is rolling her eyes up and giving me a look that says I know what's going on but you are clearly clueless. Passers-by just think I'm a moron.

So then he thrusts two of "his" CDs in my hands and says I can have them. "What a lovely, generous man!", I think. THEN, he says that they would normally cost $10 each but he'll let me have them both for $10. I tell him I only have $5. He takes one CD from me and packs me on my way. "His" CD is a load of other rappers tunes he's downloaded and burnt onto CD. I haven't listened to it yet!

Of course, Clare tells me how she saw it all along and what a muppet I am! But you may be wondering where she got this lovely cap from!


Later in the holiday, we get stopped by another guy. Admittedly, this guy is funnier and working for a charity. After exchanging a few witty comments, he asks Clare if she'd like to donate money for the kids in exchange for a cap (I think this guy was legit....he had a pass round his neck and there were a few of them standing around). So although I payed $5 for a copied CD, Clare paid $10 for a (dirty) cap which she could have got for $3 from a street-seller. At least it was for a good cause!

New York, New York!

Although I am dying to blog about meeting Tonya, Cat, Jennifer, Candi, Elise et al - I have decided to be disciplined and start at the beginning - New York!

(View of New York sky-line from Liberty Island)

The first week of our three week holiday was spent in New York. Despite getting caught in quite a heavy rainstorm when we first arrived, the temperature was generally very hot. We'd managed to get a very small apartment close to the subway and it served as a useful base. From here we took in all the sights New York had to offer - the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Ground Zero, Central Park and the Natural History Museum to name but a few.

We especially liked the food in New York (and just about everywhere else!). Here we are in Bubba Gump on Times Square.

I was particularly excited about the Alabama Mud Pie on the desert menu!


It turns out that American portion sizes are very large - This cake was meant for two to share but could probably feed a small family for a week!


It was an excellent start to the holiday - because we had a whole week, we had plenty of time to relax and recover from our busy work lives.

Anyway, I've only posted a few photos - if you are interested (and have a lot of time!) the rest of the New York pictures can be found here.

Next stop - Tonya's in Michigan!

We're back!

Hi all,

Clare and I have finally arrived back from our American adventure! We've had an amazing time and met some even more amazing people. I will blog in great detail over the next few weeks but, as we're both very tired from all the travelling, I'll leave you with a few statistics from our travels to whet your appetite!

Number of miles flown: 11,417
Number of planes taken: 8
Number of hours in the air: 30
Number of states visited: 5
Number of cities visited: 6 (if you include Monroe!)
Number of times Andy has packed the suitcases: 7
Number of near death experiences: 2
Number of burgers eaten: Too many to count!
Number of pounds of weight gained by both of us: Too embarrassing to tell!
Number of pounds of money spent: Will have to let you know when I've put out my burning bank statement!
Number of hours sleep in the last 24 hours: 0
Number of amazing people we finally got to meet in person: Loads!!!!

That's all the energy I have! I'll be back in a few days to update you all a bit more. But finally, thanks to all the amazing people that made this trip one that we'll remember always!