OK. More apologies for the lack of photography. Of course I'm only accountable to myself in this small world that is Laraland, but still ... I feel guilty and I'm sorry!! With any luck my motivation will return to me with a vengeance this weekend. Heading out to Long Island on Saturday afternoon in preparation for the Pine Barrens race on Sunday (support only, unfortunately), but I will absolutely definitely be taking my camera ... and my book (Lone Traveller - One Woman, Two Wheels and the World by Anne Mustoe - just another method of inspirational escapism!) ... and my general frustration at being stuck on the sidelines!!!

It's Friday though. I can't be miserable. I've had a three-day week (which has been quite eventful actually) and the weather is nice in NYC. What's more, am heading out to meet JonP tonight in the Large Apple & am very much looking forward to the catchup ... although clearly I feel like I've seen him every day since he left here over a year ago, being a dedicated follower of his journal.

In a radical departure of my normal style, I have also managed not to spend any money in the last 2 weeks since our anniversary. Feels quite good actually - if only I'd thought of this before I spent everything rather than afterwards! I'm sure I will get withdrawal soon though (or something will go wrong again, necessitating therapy of the retail kind) - how shallow am I!? (rhetorical question, but thanks anyway!)

Unbelievably nice to have 4 days off work in a row - and one more to go - thanks to Memorial Day in the US and a couple of leftover days to take before the end of May. I spent Friday with plenty of big plans to achieve loads of stuff, but ended up doing a few chores and just winding down from work. Saturday was a big wake-up call in terms of fitness - Roj and I went mountainbiking in Pennsylvania. It was a gorgeous route - 33 miles of single-track dusty path around a lake - enough sharp hills and tree roots to make it interesting, and sunshine all day long. The first third was quite depressing in that my leg was griping every time I went uphill and I thought I'd have to stop early, but funnily enough, it seemed to get used to the strain as the ride progressed, and although it niggled slightly, it was no worse than if I'd have been wandering around town. The last two thirds was more of a shocker in terms of my fitness. Although I've been pretty fanatical in keeping up two or three sessions of cardio a week on top of the weights, it seems that nothing can prepare me for 5 hours on a bike. I was puffing like a maniac up the hills, and wore my legs out completely by the end of the ride. Looks like I'm gonna have to relegate myself to support crew for next Sunday's Triad adventure race.

Sunday was more relaxing. Went to our local diner for breakfast (I am a French Toast addict!) and then did very little before venturing to the matinee of About a Boy at the cinema. Haven't laughed so much during a film in ages! I loved the Britishness of it - and Hugh Grant was absolutely fab. Why oh why did he not get the kid a haircut though!?

Went for my first outdoor run on Monday morning to test my leg on tarmac. Wanted to take it easy for the first time, so just went for three miles, but it proved pretty difficult anyway - more because of fitness than my leg. Again, I had minor niggles from the tendonitis (or whatever it is), but nothing more than I'd expect day-to-day. I'm gonna try and do 3 miles 3x a week to start with, and build up the distance over time - I'm certainly not going to make it to this evening's NY Road Runners sprint class. Surprise surprise.

Today is a long list of NYARA site amends and add-ons which date back quite a while, and with any luck a bit of time spent reaquainting myself with the joys of PHP. May even get back to the photography - who knows!?

Looks like this is the month for Englishmen in New York - just off out to have some nosh with Mike in a hopefully cockroach-free environment (unlike last time!), and then JonP, as I've already mentioned, is over for a few days next week. Cooo-oool!

Meanwhile, after one of the worst Mondays on history yesterday, today was approaching acceptable, although I'm still aghast at the wintry weather (coats & jumpers not allowed in New York in mid-May!). Thanks must go to Sven, Sam, Rose and not least my lovely hubby for cheering me up!

I'm also aghast and ashamed at the lack of new photos on this site - to be rectified shortly I promise!

A little to catch up on methinks ...

Had a fab time in Philadelphia with Rowan. Did a lot of coffee and tea drinking and predictably did quite well with the wine on Tuesday night too! Spent Tuesday failing miserably in finding what all the hype about Philadelphia is for - found it quite a dull place actually apart from the 74 foot Claus Oldenburg peg in the city center. A huge highlight was that Miranda's baby (Rowan's niece) was born on Wednesday morning in the UK so we were both extremely excited to hear about that, and spent a lot of Wednesday buying small pink items (whilst casually eating Cinnabons and getting over our hangovers). Wonderful news.

Got back at a reasonable time on Wednesday night, but very tired. Was looking forward to the two remaining days feeling like two remaining days, but I got so much work hassle that it felt like a very long week, so I was very happy to disappear off on Friday a little early.

Our anniversary weekend was nice. Spent some quality time relaxing and being pampered at a spa in town, although there were serious disappointments (burnt food, hotel room mixup, pathetic breakfast) that just annoyed me intensely. I always get so unhappy when things don't go perfectly, but that's such an impossible aim! Nevertheless I think I will definitely try to be a little more creative next time around.

Was very tired when we got back, but mustered enough energy to see Attack of the Clones in the evening, which I found to be excellent entertainment, notwithstanding the rather cheesy love scenes between Amidala and Anakin. Highlights for me were the absolutely awesome depictions of depth in space, the beautiful silver space-ship, and Hayden Christensen playing a completely believable broody adolescent with real glimpses of what he will become. Excellent stuff.

Another chilly day today. England seems to have stolen our summer! Nothing much to look forward to this week other than the end of it! Next big thing? JonP is coming to town!!!

It's been proper English weather in NYC the last couple of days - about 11 degrees C, heavy rain, dark and dull. Still ... we need the rain (there's still a drought over here), and we can't have beautiful sparkly sunshine all year round (just most of it!).

Didn't do all that much at the weekend. Went to the gym for 3 hours on Saturday morning and then saw Spider-man in the afternoon. Wasn't overly impressed with it I'm afraid ... the fantasy super-hero thing just isn't my cup of tea, and I really objected to the tear-jerky soppiness of just about every single piece of dialogue. Although Willem Dafoe was a fantastic baddy, the green goblin outfit did nothing but remind me of a dodgy Schwarzenegger film where he flies around as something similar in order to claim back his son who's been stolen by someone else. Oh dear ... my apalling memory of the film serves either to illustrate how bad it was or how forgetful I am! Anyway ... Roj did explain to me that the green goblin was true to the original story, but it didn't help me to understand why the film has received such hype. Mediocre in my opinion.

Sunday was just one of those boring domestic days around the house - catching up on laundry and cleaning etc etc. So boring it's unmentionable other than to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Ma.

Very much looking forward to spending the next couple of days with Rowan looking around Philadelphia and doing baby shopping for her niece/nephew (who was due yesterday) but not spending too much money as I'm horribly skint at the moment (bike, wedding outfit, anniversary plans & retail therapy have cleared me out completely)

Still waiting for news on my visa but am trying to put it to the back of my mind so I don't spend the next couple of weeks unable to enjoy myself for the paranoia of being sent home ...

Cool. Rowan is in Philadelphia next week so I'm gonna go and visit her for a couple of days, providing I can get the time off work. It'll be nice a) to see her, b) to see Philly, and c) to have a short week.

Also, plans are coming together for our anniversary celebrations. I can guarantee it won't be as thrilling as the skydiving, but it should be nice all the same.

Discussion with a friend last night prompts me to ask whether the creation of a personal website is self-indulgent and/or egotistical? I never thought of myself as either of those things, but he seemed pretty adamant that that was the case. So as usual I'm trying to work out why I'm really doing it (other than 'because I want to'). I'd like to think that I'd enjoy maintaining it (in the same way as I'd enjoy writing a diary), even if nobody else was to read it or look at it, but is that really the case? Not a new question, I know ... but the first time it's been applied to me. Unfortunately I'm not flash enough to have comments on this blog, so you'll have to just email me your [humble] opinions ....

Well the visa application is in the post (or at least with the lawyer), so it's all out of my hands. Thanks muchly to Dave for the crossed fingers. I will remain a nervous wreck until I hear ... and probably take it all out on this blog.

Did an ergo this morning (brainwave!) as part of a cunning ploy to get back into cardio stuff without over-stressing my now tangibly recovering groin-strain. It was good actually - surprisingly I managed to churn out the same power I used to do when I rowed about as much as I breathed ... just shows you what several years of consistent exercise plus a bit of age can do for you. The muscle didn't hurt even a small bit afterwards so it looks like I'm going to be living on an ergo for the next couple of weeks. Shame about the numb bum & the lack of air-con in the gym but beggars can't be choosers I suppose!

In one of those perfect examples of how small this world is, I ran into Zander Lassen on Fulton Street on the way from the lawyers. He's a distant but very pleasant relative of mine who used to go to the same school as Roj (& my brother) and now lives with his brother in Jersey City. He also happens to be the 'head' sailing instructor at the New York Yacht Club and has congenially invited us along after work for a sail. Nice (our mothers will be pleased!!).

Having one of those 'systems down' days at work today - our sysadmin guy is at home 'ill' so we're left with little to do (although fortuitously I seem to have retained Internet access!), and wondering how we survived before the age of technology (probably with a lot less paranoia, is my theory!)

OK ... I need something to go right here. Just been to see the lawyer about my visa, and there are two big problems. Firstly I might need to go through a six-month process to allow me to waiver the requirement of my current visa that I must be a resident of my country of citizenship for 2 years before I am eligible for another visa (never mind that I don't meet the criteria for this requirement - the lawyer says that sometimes you have to apply for the waiver regardless). And secondly, I need everything to go so smoothly that my visa comes through before the end of June (it normally takes 30 - 90 days), otherwise we stand to lose our holiday to Cabarete which is, of course, non-refundable. The next few weeks - until I find out the answer to both of these niggles - is going to be a little tense (bank balance has already suffered with the predictable but necessary lunchtime retail therapy!! ... sigh - I'm such a girl sometimes!!)

Had a good day yesterday though. We went out to NYARA Rich's house on Long Beach and I had a go with the kite for the first time - net result being much sand in pockets of jeans and grating in shoes, socks, hair & underwear all day (good job we bought that vacuum cleaner!!) Also drank much Corona & a couple of bad margueritas - net result being sleeping the whole way back on the train (this is a good thing). Great time - thanks Rich (not at all jealous that he lives in a beach house all year round ... 1.5 blocks from the sea ... gah!)

Hooray - the nice weather is still here and for the first time in a very very long time we have very little planned this weekend - the cinema maybe (Spiderman and/or Changing Lanes) and undoubtedly a bit of training - but otherwise we're not tied down to anything (apart from buying a vacuum cleaner!!).

Unfortunately the ibuprofen, if it's working, is taking rather a long time about it, so I'm not going to be running any marathons this weekend. I'm casually signing myself up for a couple of minor adventure races later in the summer though - the end of June being the first one - in the hope that I can coax myself back to fitness, but at this rate I'm not so sure. And I'm definitely getting annoyed about it with a full and tempting schedule of CRCA (cycling) races, and NYRRC (running) races to frustrate me further. At the very least my aim is to be able to get to the next round of sprint sessions with the NY Road Runners starting on 28 May, but even now I'm not so sure.

At least we're booked for Cabarete again ... which is something to look forward to even if it's not for a couple of months. By then BWNY (or what is left of it) should be working out of Morristown, New Jersey so big changes set for that time (anyone want to take bets on whether that's the last of the story!?)

Ok it may be 2.5 months too late, but finally went to see the doc this morning about the groin-strain thing and got the totally anticipated diagnosis of 'a bit of tendonitis' with instructions to eat ibuprofen like sweets and visit the physio if that doesn't work.

Well at least Roj will stop pestering me to go now!!

Meanwhile the dreaded (or not-so-dreaded) move to New Jersey has been postponed a month due to office refurbishment out there, so I'm stuck on Wall Street (yes, I'm being facetious!) until the end of June watching the office disintegrate before my very eyes (it almost echoes in here!).

Roj and I are now planning windsurfing back in Cabarete (Dominican Republic) for a week in July. We struggled a bit with the 'should we be less boring and find somewhere new to explore instead?' thing, but in the end we loved it so much out there last year that we really had to go back. We reassured ourselves with the thought of spending 2 to 3 weeks later in the year on an explore-the-US trip (no cries of 'but it takes several years to explore the US!' please - not while we have these jobs anyway!!).

And summer is finally returning here after its false start a couple of weeks ago - it's a very pleasant 18 degrees (ish) outside and looking lovely. Just can't believe it's May already and only another 2.5 weeks to our second anniversary, the celebration of which falls to me this year to organise. How do I beat skydiving I wonder ...