What's it all about, Alfie?

Well, long time no speak. My brother has been staying since last Monday so I've been making the most of it and have been out and about every evening instead of blogging. I nearly remembered what it was like to have a life!! Waved Daniel off on his bus back to JFK earlier so have been tidying and packing up the apartment (more about that later) to keep myself busy. I really enjoyed showing Daniel around as it was his first time in New York and did all of the tourist stuff. I have found out that this involves stopping every six metres in order to take a photo and also doing a lot of waiting in line. When Paul and I were here in a tourist capacity, there was only us and the snow, so no queuing nor photo taking as it was too cold to remove my gloves. I'm not too sure what Daniel is going to do with his 200 photos of buildings and cars, but what do I know? He did take some fab ones of Boy Wonder looking very toddler like, so I'm sure he'll send me some large copies as a 'thank you for having me' gift... ;-)

The rest of our LA trip went well. I took Boy Wonder to Disneyland twice, mainly to escape the concrete jungle of the hotel we were staying in. For those of you who have seen 'True Lies' with Arnie, it's the hotel where he takes the horse in the lift. Not sure who enjoyed Disney more, Boy Wonder or me, and I've still got the words to 'It's a small world' spinning around my head. Luckily, the flight back to New York was significantly shorter than the one going across there and Boy Wonder slept for two and a half hours of it.

Have had lots of wonderful news this week. Sara, Pete and Tom have welcomed Ben into their fold (later than expected!) and I found out earlier that Rebecca gave birth to Sophia this morning (definitely earlier than expected!) It's the first time since we've arrived that I desperately wish I was at home and able to see my friends and welcome the new babies into the world. I am just so, so happy for them all I could burst. Am looking forward to our July trip home even more now. It's rather odd now that the term 'home' refers to family, friends and a country, as opposed to a place where you live. Will that change? I doubt it.

As I said, I have started packing up the apartment as we are due to move to the 'burbs later this week. The good news is that our container of furniture has arrived in the US. The bad news is that we have been randomly selected to have our container X-rayed which is due to happen tomorrow. Fingers crossed all should be well but if there is anything they are unhappy about, it could delay our delivery for weeks. We have new electrical goods and enough clothes to last but it may mean us sleeping on an inflatable bed for a while!! I am also the proud owner of a piece of paper that means I have a NY Learner permit driving licence. It took hours of hanging around to do my written test (20/20 correct. Smug?) and now have to do a five hour pre-licencing course on Tuesday evening. Can't wait for that one...

I'd like to finish this post by remembering June, Gemma and Mick, three special people from St Bernadette's who were all taken too soon, and also the mum of one of our friends who lost her battle against cancer this week. All of them people who showed what real strength is all about. This link is for Gemma - I really hope you can open it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSI0ZStEnfw