Favourite sitting man of the week

You've had a hard day picking up rubbish, hauling a giant wheely bin around with you, god damn it, you deserve a break. Your legs are killing you and you need to sit down, but where to sit?

The chalk or the moustache

I spent a while looking at this chalk drawing on a sidewalk. I still can't figure out whether someone saw a fake moustache on the pavement and drew a face around it. Or whether some wag stuck a fake moustache onto a chalk drawing.

The figure appears to be female, so the moustache seems like a later addition, but who knows, maybe the mouth was drawn on after the moustache. I really shouldn't let this stuff bother me.

Hudson Hotel

I recently met a friend on the rooftop bar of the Hudson Hotel in midtown Manhattan. This is a cramped and overpriced bar that totally gets away with it because the views are fucking spectacular.

Question of the day. In this photo am I looking uptown or downtown?

Smarten up

One of the biggest differences between working in the UK and the US is how smart you need to be when you see clients. On the left, you see me as I'd like to be dressed. The other pictures are me wearing my only two ties. This is getting a little embarrassing, I need to buy more ties. I have clothing I normally only ever dig out for wedding and funerals, which is now my meeting attire. 

I don't know why I look so suspicious on the right. I don't really like having my photo taken so maybe I was trying to surprise myself.

Little Lebowski

Down in Greenwich Village resides Little Lebowski. If you need a rug that really ties the room together, the latest Autobahn album or a toe, this is the place to be.

His fathers eyes

I found this van, trawling for business near Atlantic station both disturbing and depressing.

Although it does amusingly look like they are kidnapping giant babies.

I can't decide whether this tagline is genius or hideous. 

Cat sandwich

As you all know, the sandwich may have been christened in England (I refuse to say invented, the chances that no one placed their lunch between two slices of bread before the Earl of Sandwich is rather unlikely to say the least), but it's spiritual home has to be New York. As those of you who know me (i.e. all of you) will know, I'm slightly obsessed by sandwiches. I thank my dad for that one. As such, this Englishman in New York is as happy as a pig in shit when it comes to lunchtime.

The local deli near work (a Sunac if you're interested) has a full gamut of breads and fillings, hot and cold. After six months of experimentation I believe I've perfected my order.

I give you: The CAT

The ingredients in order of importance:

1 x grilled chicken breast (still hot)
1/4 Avocado
1/2 Tomato
Large soft white roll
A generous about of mayonnaise
A small squirt of hot sauce
Lettuce (I'm not fooling anyone with this pretence to healthy eating)

Why the cat? Like the BLT, this is Chicken, Avocado and Tomato.

The only thing that would improve this is bacon, because, well, bacon improves everything. I have to have some limits though. So please, my readers, go forth, order your cat sandwiches.
Tell them James sent you. This will confuse them.

For more tasty sandwich facts, pop on over to:

http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodsandwiches.html

Greenwood Cemetery

According to my father, back in the day, Greenwood Cemetery was quite the tourist destination. People would come from miles around to wander through its perfectly sculpted meadows and gander at it's vast array of over the top gravestones and tombs. Well, that day was probably before video games, tv, electricity, etc, because when I went it was as silent as a... well, a tomb, I guess...

It's in Brooklyn, just below Prospect Park...


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As the reviews testify (and seriously, who is posting reviews of a graveyard?!) It is beautiful though, rolling hills and great views over Manhattan. Even the entrance gate is spectacular, if rather foreboding.

I found a rosary! No, really, I found it, I didn't steal it. It was on the road. I thought it might be good luck to keep it. Hmm... come to think of it, I can't remember where I put it.
Ahh fuck, I lost a rosary.

Let's play guess the creature. I'm going for cat. Very Egyptian. Could be a dog though. Whatever it is, it's clearly in need of a good meal. And a head.

I went on the day the Rapture was meant to be taking place (do you capitalise rapture? I guess it's an event, like Christmas or Champions League Final Day, so you must do), which could have been a serious mistake if the Rapture had taken the form of a zombie uprising.

However, I did see this sign of the way home that made me chuckle.

This is a hell of a good way to sell Cheeseburgers (hey, if I can capitalise Rapture, I sure as hell can capitalise Cheeseburgers).

Union Square bands

Union Square, my regular work stop, is a music mecca (that's the location, not the robot). The bands who play in the main underground area are by and large terrible. As were these guys. But good luck to them I guess, after all:

If you can make it there. 
You can make it anywhere. 
It's up to you, 
New York, New York 

Lego Castles

This is a very late post, but I attended a strange lego festival a few weeks ago. It was just outside of New York in a small town with the lovely name of Tarrytown. Shown on the map below.


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(don't you just love google maps?)

It was set in a castle that is such a good resemblance to a lego castle, a committed user of Danish brickware once created a lego version and presented it to the castle.

To commemorate the building of such a house a yearly lego festival was initiated.

Above is the real one, not the lego one.

It was mainly full of kids creations, but there were a few interesting bits and pieces in there. In particular I liked the portraits made from a version of Lego pointillism.

Strange place, quite a long way away, fairly expensive to get to (train and taxi) and get back from, but certainly an interesting New York experience. More photos below: