OK, now that the storm has abated today and the skies are clear with the sunlight streaming in through the window-blinds I can attempt to resume recollecting where I left off previously.

N.B This post has nothing to do with fox-hunting.

Right, well yes, as I was saying, Americans live in a big place, do things in a big way and have big personalities (most of the time).  There, see, that pretty much gets to the point (see I am capable of short musing too).

I have several days to catch up on so I’ll try and be quick,  photos would have helped the briefness (worth a million words and whatnot) but I still haven’t had a chance to purchase a camera yet. Hoping to rectify such matters pronto..

3 Days Ago:

My father and I went bank-hunting to enquire about the best place to transfer my English funds to a dollar account so that I may begin buying items for my journey.  The three prominant nation-wide banks with good internet banking facilities were, ‘Bank of America’, ‘CitiBank’ and ‘Chase’.  Of the three, considering my needs, I had a good feeling about CitiBank… Mmmm.

After the bank bashing, my father drove me to ‘Long Island Art College’ whilst I munched on a Raab Deli Sandwich (tasty if slightly soggy).

I spotted a music shop on the way which meant that we had to stop first and have a look.  My father being a musician also means such occurances are likely.

Nothing much to report on from that particular ‘Guitar Center’ except that I could name all the guitarists postered up in big on their windows, and the keyboard selection was pretty good.

Back to College!  My father wanted to drop in to his old art school and see if his old pal was working today.  He was! Thus I met Frank the potter; currently head of the pottery department, he shared the same name, height and taste for art as my dad.

Seemed like a nice guy and briefly started telling me that his daughter had left for 6 months in Italy to study and so was in the same boat as my mother, unfortunately his cell (mobile) phone rang and our discussion was cut off prematurely.  I managed to have a longer chat with a couple of his students who were apparently “always around” even though the new term wasn’t due to start till the following Tuesday.

I was shown a pretty nifty kiln that had been constructed by the students and teachers themselves out of clay. A large spider with an obvious affinity for smoke and fumes had also taken it’s resident spot close by. I suspect it will be unfortunately evicted from his home sometime next week by a broom-wielding student potter girl with a nervous disposition.

Drove back home through a wooded “Well-to-do neighbourhood” according to my father.  I had to agree, these were pretty needlessly large homes..

2 Days Ago: 

To the beach!  My father and I drove out South along Long Island for a nice walk along the coast.

The beach which name escapes me but I shall dub ‘End of Crabs’ due to the large volumes of crab shells and dislocated claws that were strewn across the sands, was a pleasant place to be.  It was late afternoon and we had the beach pretty much to ourselves apart from a few blokes fishing as the tide came in.

It was pretty eerie how empty such a large space was but that is the way it is here,  I suppose it would have been busier on other days and through peak-summer but I’m just so used to seeing beaches in England and on holiday being mobbed, so it was odd..

I made patterns in the sand with a stick and also found a pair of sunglasses to make a face sculpture with.  Large gulls kept us company for the duration and my father collected an old football (soccerball) and a couple of glass bottles, doing his part I guess.

A nice, long and scenic walk, if a little tiring.  There were constant planes overhead and an ordinary fly landed on my hand and drew blood to my surprise. Vicious little bugger.

Still I enjoyed the day out.

Right well breakfast is ready (tofu and eggs, my dads speciality).  I’ll catch up to yesterday, tomorrow. (heh).