Wednesday in New York

Posted on 2014/05/11 22:33:07 (May 2014).

[Wednesday 7th May 2014]
Predictably woke up about 4:30 in the morning, and couldn't get back to sleep - I didn't really manage more than about 4 hours sleep on any night of this trip.

Headed into the office for about 7am, and essentially just spent the whole day there. I was surprised by how many people I knew I bumped into during the two days I was here.

Had a "team dinner" with a team I was originally supposed to be working with over the coming months, but as these things go in the interim between planning this trip and actually coming here some things had changed, and it looked less like we'd be collaborating after all. We went to a restaurant called the Monarch Rooms, which wasn't really my cup of tea. I rather convinced myself Brian Blessed was also there, but it can't have been as he looked about 30 years too young, and 5 stones too thin.

After dinner I went for a drink with my colleague who had also come over from London - she wanted to show me the view from the bar at the top of the Standard Hotel. As it happens the bar was closed for a private function, so instead we went into the sort of night club next door, which theoretically had the same view, but the interior and clientele were sufficiently horrid that we only stayed for one drink. Headed back to our own hotel bar for another drink, and there bumped into another colleague who was visiting from California.

My sense of the superiority of London over New York was pleasingly given a lift in this bar - I ordered a Negroni, and the barman asked what type of gin I wanted. I said I was more interested in the type of vermouth, to which he replied they only had Martini Rosso, and the vast majority of bars in New York would be the same. I smugly informed him I'd rather not have a Negroni then.

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