Californication

Today, unbelieving of the weather report, I threw on a light jumper and my duffle coat to walk downtown and carry out a few last errands before I fly out to LA early tomorrow morning. I stepped out side into 22 degree heat, and strong winds which just about made my clothing bearable. This is definitely the most full on global warming that I've encountered, having just purchased a pair of snow boots in preparation for the winter storms that supposedly will be turning up soon... doesn't look much like I'll be needing them. I walked down 1st Ave and dropped off the movie I rented from Blockbuster last night - Zack Braffs latest effort 'The Last Kiss'. It was ok, fairly entertaining stuff about the trials of hitting you're thirties (thank goodness that's still 10 years away...ok 8 and a half) but certainly wasn't as powerful as Garden State.

I turned onto 2nd at 17th and headed into the East Village which was embrassing the sudden warm spell. The streets were packed with people in shorts, t-shirts and flipflops (obviously the more weather savvy had been keeping these handy just in case) as well as those who were less prepared and starting to look uncomfortably warm. Cafes and restaurants spilled into the streets, and it all started to feel a bit European - except for, as always in New York it was something close yet totally different. After a partially self inflicted week of hiding in my room, I began to wonder what it was about being out and about that bothered me so much - it certainly isn't crowds. I also realised very acutely just how much I am in love with New York, even being here on my own, and how impossible it will be to leave. At Houston I turned onto Bowery, noting exactly where Delancy is (couldn't locate it for love nor money on the way to the Patti Smith gig with Dad...I'm never going to get lost round there again...) and into the thronging masses of Chinatown. It always seems to be insanely busy around there, and today was no exception - all the winter tourist who had perhaps hoping for snow in New York seemed to go at little crazy at the sudden early summer. On to Canal, passed Mulberry, where you can look down from the thick of Chinatown into the stretch of Little Italy that it hasn't yet engulfed, where there always seems to be some kind of fair.
At Canal and Broadway I went to pick up some photo albums for the guys out west, in a little market that was almost identical to bits of Camden, and yet somehow not. As the weather was still fantastic, I decided to keep walking downtown on Church Street, and found myself in the thick of the financial district and suddenly at the World Trade Centre site. As always, there were plenty of people, and I wondered how many of them were worrying about terrorism, and how many were more concerned that if global warming keeps going the way it has, this part of New York could be submerged within my life time. I pushed on past the crowds and headed all the way downtown to Battery Park, and watched the sun set by the Statue of Liberty. Not a bad walk, especially as there's a bus that goes from right outside the park to right outside my front door.
Well, my flight leaves in just under 12 hours, so I'll be in California (singing that bloody Phantom Planet song the whole way there) in no time at all. The plan is to meet James, Amy and Jessica in LA, visit Kassie in Fresno, stay at Jessica's in Lodi and visit San Francisco and the coast, and then catch a train up to Oregon to see Stacey and Kirsten in Portland. For your viewing pleasure, here is an artistic impression of that journey, made on the hightech program that is Paint. Note my stop over in Chicago... that better not be a nightmare, I have a fear of connecting flights after being stranded in Moscow airport at 5am only to find I had to get myself and all my luggage from the international terminal to the domestic one, 7 miles away. Good times.

The west coast is so much easier to understand given that it's mostly California. I'll be damned if I can name all the states on the east coast. I once asked why the states were so highly concentrated on the east coast, and after being looked at like a moron, it was pointed out to me that this was where the settlers landed orgininally, and then spread west. Like I'd realise something like that...
All that's left now is to pack my shiny new electric toothbrush (ok maybe my whole suitcase, but I've got plenty of time) and watch a few episodes of the Mighty Boosh (comic genius) before the Supershittle (yes it's the shuttle, but we named it that due to its impressive unreliability) collects me at 2:30 am. I'll be back in 10 days, with lots of pikchars and such for you. TTFN