Downtown Manhattan

Early morning lives again, we arrived at the truck a bit later - 6.30am with Don wondering if we were turning up at all. Straight after the first live was breakfast time which generally consisted of coffee from Starbucks, and a bagel from the Variety Cafe on Broadway. Not being a fan of bagels myself - I had egg and bacon muffins. No brown sauce though. Absolutely no taste these Americans!



Just after lunch we had a couple of hours spare so all went for a walk to clear our heads and revive our jet lagged bodies. First stop was overlooking Ground Zero.



Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.



Walking on to City Hall where there was a lunchtime game of chess going on in the park around the buildings.



People just enjoying the fresh air. Such a shame as London was cold and wet.



I feel sorry for the local pigeon and squirrel football teams - they're just not allowed to have any fun at all. City Hall bureaucrats.



Then on to the Brooklyn Bridge. Having seen it on so many movies I was really expecting to see helicopters, car chases, explosions - but nothing just a sign saying "No Salt beyond this point". Given the average diet - a bit late really.



All wrapped up for the day we headed to B&H (heaven for anything electrical / video & audio stuff) where I had to get a replacement bulb for my camera light. Loads of stuff that you could spend an absolute fortune on. I was good though - didn't go mad at all.

The early mornings and time difference starting to kick in we had dinner at the Italian restaurant on the corner of the hotel. In a word the attitude was highly 'pretentious'. And the food only average. The bread was stale and only came with olive oil no balsamic vinegar, the wine was described at dry, really bone dry - like the ocean... so dry in fact it came out of the bottle and looked like a glass of wine. The cheese selection - I say cheese lightly as it was 'all American cheese' and no blue cheese - the maitre'd (who described the wine) didn't know what Dolcelatte cheese was... when I asked for some..... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! How can you run an Italian restaurant without having any blue moldly soft smelly cheese on the menu?

Friday - was more of the same - for lunch instead of being a chicken wrap Karine and I headed down the street to a Sushi shop spotted when taking a cab back to the hotel. Most cabs are horrible, and famously in New york the drivers are mostly immigrants the whole time we only had one Amercian driver. One time an Indian driver had a huge map of the US unrolled on his lap as he drove us to where ever. Back to lunch, great sushi & noodle soup with added wasabi and chilli. Fantastic for warming the cockles.

We got back to the hotel and saw that there was 'free' wine from 6pm on the 10th floor and headed more or less straight up. It would be rude not to. Better still the 10th floor had a balcony area over looking mid-town where we were staying.

One striking difference between New York and London is the greenery - London is so much greener. New York more striking initially as its built on the block system so you can see for ever down the Avenues (north/south roads) and the sky scrapers in the distance. Streets run east/west. If you live in NYC you have to have a penthouse / top floor flat with a roof garden or green balcony - makes all the difference to have that bit of nature around you.



One glass of wine later - that it. Just one glass of wine... not because you were only allowed one - the waiter only put out 2 bottles of wine. Once gone that was it - he collected the glasses and went.... rude not to really!!

The Empire State Building - minus King Kong.



Dinner was pizza. Bloody good too. Not sure how many native cuisines this city has but seem to be flying through them.... just need need some fish, salt beef sandwiches, pretsels.....

How Ya Doing?

The two times I've been to New York they really didn't do the city justice to get a real feel for it. The first time was back in 199.0 I came through Penn St Station on the way to JFK on the way home from visiting Bust in Florida when he was learning to be a pilot. It was in the autumn and as I ventured out of the station steam was coming from the man hole covers - just like in the movies!! Next was in 2000/2001 with Madge.web - a short while before the Twin Towers came down - all I remember was staying in a hotel overlooking Times square and walking from Wall Street up to Central Park - a long way.



This time though, the Dow was crashing and the banks went into meltdown. Greg, who I was with last week in Finland was on his way out from Brussels and I met up with Karine at the office. The flight was uneventful though with what seems to be trends one of my bags was missing - the lights. It would arrive the next morning and I'd be able to live without them for a day.

Dinner was a handover from the team currently in place which we had in an Indian restaurant that didn't serve beer - or any alcohol. Despite that flaw in the plan not bad at all - very reminiscent of Punjabi by Nature in Delhi.

Wednesday morning was early start - up at 5.00am and leaving the hotel at 5.45am to go down to Wall Street to do lives starting from 7.00 (Noon UK time).

Getting out of the taxi we found the sat truck we'd be using with Don in tow the engineer / owner. One thing - it was big - well compared to ours back in the UK.



Very comfortable though and with anything and everything you may want - satelitte TV and Internet and even a microwave. Didn't find the kitchen sink. Must have been in one of the drawers somewhere. I don't know what Don and Karine are talking about but the guys on the TV seem to be quiet interested...



I did say the truck was big - big enough for Greg to swing an earpiece.



Sheltered in a disused doorway as it was forecast to rain, we huddled to one side of Wall Street facing the original entrance to the Stock Exchange.



Greg.... just about to go live.



We ended up being very lucky with the rain - just after we finished the last live at 5pm it tipped down - not for long. That didn't stop a little old Chinese lady popping up nearly instantaneously with her umbrella stall. How she got there so quick nobody knows. As the skys cleared she didn't hang around either.

Don had recommended a steak house for dinner - The Old Homestead. Apparently the oldest steak house in NYC. We headed back to the hotel - with minute rooms. Having 8 pieces of luggage doesn't help but to move around or get into the wardrobe I had to move one or two items out of the way every time.

A short taxi ride form the hotel to 9th Ave the steakhouse was a sight for sore eyes. The menu too - though choosing was a little difficult. Finally settled on a 16oz Fillet Mignon on the bone - medium rare with pepper sauce. Gloriously it just melted. Pudding followed was original New York Cheese cake - a big slice that Karine and I shared - Greg has is own. Stunning again. We waddled out, hailed a taxi and were in bed by 10.00pm.

Points in Time

Tuesday

05:30 Starting the car so early is not a good time for the dash to light up and flash with the warning saying one of the headlamp bulbs has blown. Looking at the beam – on the passenger side too which is a real pain to change.

07.55 Finished washing the dirt and grim off my hands and face having removed the ECU, air filter, air intake pipes, changed the bulb and replaced all the bits. Only took three of us to manage it as well.

08.20 Scrambled egg and bacon toasted sandwich… mmmm.

09.15 Film our Political Top Trumps set – its conference season and these are doing the doing the rounds in Manchester at the Labour Conference. Apparently David Cameron’s memoirs are worth more that Gordon Brown’s!! £2.4m vs £1.8m

10.00 Just heading into town to see the 2nd Battalion Fusiliers be given the key to the City of London by the Lord Mayor. Only regiment with two serving George Cross holders don’t you know. Can’t beat a bit of British pomp & ceremony so looking forward to it.

12.30 Passing over Potters Bar section of the M25 heading to Helsinki. There’s been a shooting at a school in western Finland and a number of students have been killed. Its sad to think that a sizeable of what I do is based around the misfortune of others – but I guess that’s the way it is. And anyway its not as if I the only one – anyone working in an A&E department. Interspersed with it all are times that make you smile – seeing the goodness in people and to relish the freedom and unpredictability of life.

15:30 (now Finnish time) Staring to write this blog.

17:25 “Can Mr Hooper please come to the assistance desk”. Turning around as there’s a desk right behind me “Hi, I’m Mr Hooper”. “Four of your bags didn’t get put on the plane”. S**T. Doesn’t really matter which four something I need will be missing. Three I could possibly live without – though would be smelly until I could buy more clothes.

17.30 “It’s not four bags its five!” I had my clothes though so would only be as smelly as usual.

16.45 Met Greg and John off the plane from Brussels, we picked up a hire car and headed up to Kauhajoki. Leaving Helsinki at the witching hour I drove out blindly following the sat nav north to . We didn't have any hotel rooms for the night either - well not within an hour and a half's further drive anyway. Beautiful low lying countryside past vast amounts of woodland interspersed with fjords, golden hour too - when the sun goes down, light streaming through the trees. After a couple of hours the road becomes a dirt track - which is a little worrying. Just wish I now had a manual gear box to appreciate the road properly. Ducking and diving through the trees, occasionally blasting away brief patches of low lying mist.... the only disconcerting bit - above the tree time pure blackness - there has to be a mountain there - no?

22.00 Arriving outside the school 3 hours later, its foggy and chilly at a whopping 6'C. Hungry we head for the local garage spotted on the way in to have a surprising good plate of pan fried chicken and chips.

01.15 Ring ring, ‘Hello” (sleepily). “Hello Mr Hooper… …. ….”, “Sorry I don’t understand”. “Your bags – I have them. I’ll be there in 15 mins”. “OK”. Damn. Waking John up - we got the short straws and had to share, I got to get dressed and went outside.

01.50 Zzzzzzzzz

Wednesday (properly now)

08.30 Open my tripod bag to find that some nice baggage handler kindly dropped or threw my tripod bag around. The handle's broken and now lovely and wobbly.

12.40 French fries that taste of fish – I wonder how you do that.

19.20 Greg – “Hmmm lovely after taste of urine…” Urgh. “Don’t do the yellow ones – no after taste at all.” These Finns are weird liquorice and urine! Yet again with no rooms booked or available in Helsinki we head back there - trying to avoid the moose on the loose.

21.00 Gregs driving now. The sandwich for the petrol station is rank, the donut surprisingly fresh. The passenger seat, now covered in sugar, on XC90’s are really uncomfortable. Nothing I do is stopping my feet from hurting. Need to sleep – but it hurts.

23.00 Sitting in the bar of the hotel for a quick night cap we’ve been in Finland for 29 hours. Driving for 9hrs, sleeping for 6 hrs leaves a of grand total 14 for work (plus the original 9 as well).

Thursday

11.30 Find some really cool stocking fillers in a mall on the way to the airport…. now that would
be giving it away. Two days in Finnland and the Finn's are strange - well more wierd really - very serious and no apparant sense of humour - look at Kimi Raikkonen and thats basically all you get - all the time.

13.00 (now UK time) Just saw Andrew Stephens just walk on the flip down TV screens in the cabin introducing CNN’s business traveller show. When I see him walk (on screen) it always brings back fond memories of a piece to camera in HK Park near the animal enclosures. Andrew had just moved from newspaper to tv and was new to being on screen and all the wonderful weirdness that that entails. To make what he had to say ‘appear’ more interesting I had him walk at the same time as speaking. Obviously this is a 100% natural thing to be able to do but introduce a camera and that throws you all over the place? – Well it did Andrew. I couldn’t place it at first but something was wrong – something familiar. Then it clicked – CCF. Back in school days when doing the Combined Cadet Force – we were made to march and there were a number of boys who just couldn’t do it. Being forced to walk in time made them Monkey March. Swinging same side hands feet together Thinking about it just like one of the teachers at Fernden – Monkey Man. I absolutely lost it and just become a giggling wreck. Thankfully Andrew didn’t take it to heart once I apologised saying it wasn’t his fault and after many more tomes of trying we had one in the bag – that wasn’t too bad at least.

Listening to ELO's Mr Blue Sky, some lamb in jus resting gently in my stomach – happy and contented.

Almost A Wash Out

Back to Trebetherwick in Cornwall for a couple of weeks camping, we had Michael, Aaron's friend for the first week. Here we are up on Rough Tor the biggest hill for w while around - where it was a little windy.



Not sure what Lucy's doing an impression of - a pig?



This was actually the only sunny day -the day we went down to Land's End. For most of the rest of the time it was drizzly with the occasional rain. I think there was only one day that was washed out.



A face in the rock.



Perhaps I should brush my hair - or even have a shower. As the camp site doesn't have any once in two weeks is surely enough,



Ben stretching out.



Jess with her pensive look.



Say 'Cheese'.



Jess with hair under control now.



Jess with her inner monster - at the Dr Who exhibition.



Woooooo-ooooo



A boat - a bus - whatever it is it's absolutely huge.



Why can't I climb the wall?



Ben I want to take your photo...



No not you hand - you...



Look Ben you're not a celebrity...



I'll settle for Jess & Pippin then.



A little girl and a little dog.



No trip would be complete without building a huge castle on the banks of the stream by Brae Hill.



With Lucy over looking operations.

Twisting My Melon Man

I don't know what it is with watermelons - I can only say that they are best eaten when camping. Even Lucy enjoyed hers.



One slice down - as many more as possible to go.



Melon Monkeys - is the only way to describe Mike & Aaron.



Yes... you're disturbing my self indulgent gorging...



Can't work out where Mike's hat finishes and the melon starts.



Arrr. There we go - something has caught those beady eyes though.



And still they remain focused - no one's going to take it away Mike!



Finished or is it leave me in peace.



And every photos is a different slice!!

Peter's Blog

I met Peter a couple of times in Delhi - we arrived and left about the same time too. I don't know what it is but Peter really has a way with words and sentiments that I whole heartedly agree with...

From his latest blog:

The Natural Consequence of Human Greed

When I'm asked to name the single biggest difference between living in Golden Bay and India I always reply with a single word: "people", which is to say the lack of them.

Every day I walk down the long empty beach in front of our house and find myself, without fail, reflecting on the luxury of the peace and space afforded to residents of this place.

But the sense of my own good fortune is always tempered by the sinking feeling that however nice it is in this rural cloister, out there in the world the planet is reeling from the sheer numbers of us human beings and there is nothing we can do about it.

Golden Bay likes to think of itself as ‘green'. Sustainability and recycling are part of the unspoken credo of the Bay (at least among the hippy set) but having lived in India I sometimes find myself irritated by the unreality of it all.

This is a place where (quite rightly) you get censorious looks for over-filling the kettle or admitting to driving to a nearby town for coffee on a rainy day, just to entertain the kids - ‘We don't do that sort of thing,' my wife was stonily informed by one fellow mother, ‘we're environmentalists.'

I don't want to belittle efforts of well-meaning people, here and elsewhere in the developed world, "for doing their bit" to arrest global warming, but it really is like using the teacups to bail out the Titanic.

Living in India for a few years made me realise quite how environmentally sunk the planet is, and how depressingly little we can do it about it.

When Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, launched India's climate change plan, he used that oft-quoted line of Gandhi's that the "earth provides enough to satisfy everyone's need, but not everyone's greed".

True, but Singh wasn't counselling restraint; on the contrary, as he explained, "every citizen of this planet must have an equal share of the planetary atmospheric space."

What does that mean? Simply that Indians want to pollute the planet just as much as Englishmen, Americans and even Kiwis do. And why not? They want cars, fridges, heaters and coolers, dishwashers and all the other trimmings of developed world living just as much as we do. A Chinaman will feel no different.

So, ‘you do the math', as they say. Multiply even the most abstemious Golden Bay life by 2.4 billion (the combined population of China and India) and what do you get? Answer: Environmental catastrophe.

Look about even the most modest developed world home, and tot up the amount of power steel, cement, copper, aluminium etc etc that goes into maintaining even a lifestyle which passes a bare, legal miminum.

Multiply by 2.4 billion. The truth is that there simply isn't enough to go around. You only have to look at falling water tables in India and China, the pollution of Yellow and Ganges rivers, the price of oil and grain, plummeting tuna stock and the vanishing forests of the Amazon, to see that obvious truth.

And if we are to follow the logic of Dr Singh's statement, then the only way that this can be arrested is if the developed world cuts back radically on its plunder of the planet, something he knows can't and won't be done.

The clock cannot be turned back, and even if hypothetically the developed world did decide to switch off their cars and factories and return to living in mudhuts to save the planet, India and China wouldn't follow suit.

In many ways, the science of global warming is arguably moot, since the speed at which the world population is increasing, multiplied by the ability of the people to consume the planet's finite resources might just make it irrelevant anyway.

As I potter down the beach here, drinking in the stunning views and lungfuls of fresh air, I find myself wondering if we should stop wasting valuable time and resources trying to prevent what is inevitable.

Perhaps we should stop kidding ourselves and accept that the human race does not ‘do' restraint, and start investing our ingenuity in mitigating the environmental consequences of meeting everyone's needs and greeds.

Peter's Daily Telegraph Blog

Back in Beijing

Finally 10 days later than originally planned I have made it back to Beijing. The trip seems to have been just not meant to happen. First visa delays - then it was valid for only 10 days - only my pre Olympic Visa was issued which means I still have to get an extension. And then on the day of travel a mad rush to get my equipment list printed out and chopped by the Chinese Embassy so I could import and export it without any problems.



The last time I was here was for the Hong Kong Handover and I was expecting the city to be very similar - very loud, very atmospheric and full of Olympic propaganda. Nothing like that at all really. Lots of new buildings and newer ones, traffic that albeit slow does move but with a real ordilay fashion and a city that is peaceful and could be any other capital city in South East Asia. As for propaganda - nothing. The only signs so far have been a couple of corporate sponsorship billboards on offices. A dramatic change on the face of it.



My room has one of the best layouts that works well. I wish more hotels did this ( but it does take up space). It's split level with the lounge area downstairs, good for all the work stuff and the bedroom upstairs, where I can have my mess that no one can see!

Sadly TV choice is terrible so I most of the time I'm going to be listening to Virgin Radio over the net, as I am at the moment. To make it worse I can't watch BBC iPlayer stuff as I'm in China and my special token thing connects directly to work and makes my computer look like its in the UK expired at the end of June which means NO Dr Who to wake up to on Sunday morning!!

So far lunches and dinners, as usual with China, were great - including the Thai and Spanish Tapas. I am so looking forward to dim sum and dumplings. Hmmmm. According to the scales on the hotel I'm 98.5kg. I reckon in three weeks it will be well over 100kg. Not a goal trust me!