Spelling mistake #1

This sign is at 34th St/Penn Station on a very busy platform. It must be glanced at by tens of thousands of people a day. I might petition NY city council to fix it.

I am not...

nor have ever been, Grizzly Adams....
...although, looking at the back catalogue of the series, probably not so bad.

Overheard at the hardware store

Overheard at Tribeca hardware: Day 1

Customer: I heard that in California they found a cancer causing ingredient in this paint.
Hardware shop dude: What don't they think causes cancer in California? You live in New York, cancer's everywhere. You want the paint?
Customer: I guess.

Day 2
Customer: Are these heaters any good?
Hardware shop dude: To tell you the truth they're all crap.

Top of the Hill

Two snaps from the top of the run. The wind would whip fiercely over the peaks whipping up flurries of snow. Cold, yet by the end of the run you'd be warm and sweating. Then ready to do it all again. We had a ritual at the end of each day to imbibe a Speckled Hen at The Old English Inn where we listened to and told our own tall tales and truths....

Snow drifters

Here's a little bit of snow action from the slopes of Vermont. It was so great to get out of the city for a week. Stowe, the small town in Vermont is about a 45 minute flight from NY. It's a small town, about 3000 people. I thought that it must have been a decade since I've last skied, but then doing my sums I realised it was actually closer to 22 years!!! Which just doesn't sound right.
We went out twice to the slopes, lasting only about an hour on the first day due to incredibly bad weather. The second day was amazing. We skiied from about 9am until around 4pm. After a few skies down the easiest runs I started to experience the old muscular memory and shortly felt that I had found my ski legs. Interestingly, I found that when I took things slowly and concentrated too much I had less luck re-learning the basics of parallel turning/stopping etc, then when I just threw myself off the slope and had to respond quickly. The body had no chance to stop and think and had to learn instantly...so that's the approach I took. After a couple of runs and a pretty good stack we decided to hit the higher runs...we found one that was about three miles long, downhill, through beautiful pine forests and with views down into the valley and the township of Stowe. It was exhilarating. Our first attempt took us about an hour up and down, but by the final ascent we were doing it all in about 20 minutes! Had one really good stack, legs and arms flailing and skies being tossed asunder and a head-full of snow - but bloody good fun too! Had some lovely moments skiing together, weaving down the mountain, through fog, in silence save for the whoosh of the skies through the whitest snow.

christmas tree conversations....

with celebrities:
Edie Falco (Mrs Soprano) Greenwich Street, Tribeca
A:Hi Edie I delivered a tree to you last year.
E: Oh yeah?
A: And I wrote a play about an Australian guy delivering christmas trees in Tribeca and you get a mention in it.
E: Get outta here!!
A: I'm going to leave a copy for you in the foyer.
E: Do it. I'll take a look.

Harvey Keitel cnr of Duane and Hudson streets
AG: pushing Christmas tree in cart stops at red light, Harvey walks up and waits at the light to cross as well.
A: So, Harvey you buying a Christmas tree from me or what?
H: You better believe it kid.
A: Come see me, ask for Adam.
H: Anytime I buy a tree I ask for you. It's that simple.

windy

no real snow to speak of as of yet, but windy...damn windy. delivering christmas trees again. folks remember the grozz from last year. wearing singlet, long sleeve cotton shirt, t-shirt, flannel shirt, thickish cotton jumper, thicker cotton shirt(like lumberjack jacket), hoodie, beanie, gortex nth end wind-cheater....and for down below....only a thong!!! quite a sight pushing a xmas tree in a shopping trolley along broadway!