A freezing cold day in New York and an extremely long walk… but such an incredible place it is. After a train trip through a winter wonderland from Boston I arrived at my charming hotel – my room reminds me of an English bedroom in a family home – had a shower and then set out for the East Village and the original home of the New York punk rock scene. I went to a bar called Manitoba’s and was delighted. Pictures of punk rockers from bygone eras adorn the walls and the furniture is suitably torn and worn to provide an authentic punk rock feel. After a couple of beers there I had pushed my hunger to its limits and, craving pizza, I paid my bill and left. Directly across the road was a pizza place… I walked in and took a seat at the bar. I ordered a beer and vegetarian pizza with extra mushrooms. To my right was a very unusual but beautiful lady also sitting alone and eating a pizza. She smiled at me several times and for some unknown reason a feverish insanity overtook me and I decided to go an ask her if she’d like to have a drink with me… I was quite drunk having consumed two beers and two glasses of wine after already having had two beers at Manitoba’s. ‘Thank you for the offer but the bar lady is my girlfriend’ she said in response to my approach. What a fool I am. What made me do that?
I awake with a half-empty bottle of wine beside my hotel room bed. I passed out before I had the chance to finish it. After walking 20+kms yesterday I went to an Irish pub for dinner and drinks and then went to a liquor store on the way back to the hotel. A fine bottle of Californian Cabernet Sauvignon will now go to waste. It matters not. After a shower and some breakfast I will check out of the hotel and go to the New York Public library where there is a Lou Reed Exhibition. Some times it terrifies me but after a life in which sadness seems to have been my primary emotion, I am very happy these days and have been mostly happy for the past four years… ever since my Move to Madrid and then to Boston. I love the potential that each day brings for new exploration and discovery. I get lonely at times but I find solace in books and the blank pages of notepads upon which I scribble random thoughts.
