Kym, Arthur, Ella and Will Visit

Great to see the Vanderbilt-Frieds last weekend in St. Albans. The weather stayed pretty warm (it had clearly been roasting in Paris the previous week) and we had a lovely couple of days hanging out. Friday evening we wandered over to Clarence Park and learnt about the mystical game that is called 'cricket', and picked Ollie and Charlie up from their classes. On Saturday morning Kym, Arthur and I explored St. Alban's market and bought our picnic lunch; cheese, saucisson, baguette, fruit. Kym also bought, and devoured, a carton of rather nice olives en route. We walked down Fishpool St, past the £1,000,000 house, here, (not that it is terribly expensive for the street but we commented on it as we trundled by), into Verulamium Park for lunch, out again to pay a quick visit to the Roman theatre, here, and a return to the park to lie in the sun, play soccer, and eat ice cream. Just like every summer's day should be. We strolled home via the Roman Wall, the oldest pub in Britain (as the Guinness Book of Records says), Ye Olde Fighting Cock, up past the Cathedral and stopped off for a decent dinner, and pint of good proper beer, at the Hare and Hounds in Sopwell Lane. 

On Sunday we went to Knebworth House, above. We checked out the maze, 

and the dinosaur park:

Will and Ollie had their picture taken with the statuesque park gardener,

and we took a picture of one of his colleagues as well:

We went to the kids adventure area, and finished off with a miniature train ride:

The only thing missing was George, who was on a school activities trip to the Lake District.

But George returned on Tuesday evening which meant we could all meet up on the Wednesday night in Windsor where the Vanderbilt-Frieds were staying. I haven't got any pictures of everyone having a great time together, as I was a little late, but I did take a decent picture of Windsor. 

It was wonderful to spend time with the Vanderbilt-Frieds. 

Morgan Snr

It was so good to play host to the wonderful Morgan McGrath, who paid us a visit last Friday night for dinner whilst in UK on business for a week. It was really interesting to see the kids wide eyes (they love Morgan) when he arrived. On one level it was a mixture of bashfulness and intimacy. On another level it seemed to be the realisation that the Chappaqua part of their lives is not a separate 'compartment' from their life in St. Albans. Morgan's appearance seemed to link the two worlds powerfully together. And this validates one of the reasons we went to the States; to show the children there is a bigger world out there and that its all connected up. 

So a big thanks to Morgan, not just from coming and making the boys' light up with the delight of seeing an old buddy again, but for helping to make them start to make those connections. It's a great thing. 

Battle

The young warrior was blinded by the Force of the Light.

It was overwhelming.
Out of the light came Daft Vader. The two fought.
The young warrior morphed himself to safety using his superpower light transporter. He escaped safely.

Jonathan Taub

Great to see Jonathan Taub at the Market Porter next to Borough Market last night. He has flown over from Chappaqua for the weekend to see two soccer games, catch up with some mates, drink beer in pubs and generally be British. Cheers Jonathan!

The boy's happiness at seeing these pictures was tinged with a little sadness too. We miss you. : (

Here are a few words from boys:

"hello, miss you, wish we could have seen you. i miss having such a great football/soccer coach. say hello to the team from me." george.

"hello, miss you so much. I miss your really funny jokes and your "trying" to do an English accent.I wish I could seen you(with my brothers)\I miss you very much." Oliver Barnett

"you're a good ref" Charlie

Morgan and Ella visit St. Albans

It was great to see Morgan and Ella last Saturday night. We went to, reputedly, the oldest pub in England, Ye Old Fighting Cocks, which has a Wikipedia entry here and its own site, here . Morgan drank real beer,

and sat at the bar like a real local:


The traditional fayre was devoured happily,

And a good time was had by all:





The walk home was nice too:

Ryan's Sunday

Ryan left today. It has been fun having him around, though I must say that I have had one of those punishing weeks getting prepared for a pitch next week in San Jose, so haven't been able to spend as much time as I might like with him. However, I think the place where Ryan wanted to spend most time was the studio and that was achieved. He also ate Jen and Berry's, shot some hoops and got some serious shopping in. Apparently we whet his appetite for more of New York, so when he gets his place here, perhaps he can put us up.

Also, in a nice piece of symmetry, Ryan was a member of the first group of visitors, the Whites in September 2003, and the last in July 2008.

Ryan's Friday and Saturday

"My final day was good, I did all my usual tasks plus extra PayPal related ones for Christian. I also had lunch on Times Square with someone from the office and talked about different advertising agencies ect. I printed off all my Photoshop pictures and arranged them into a book. After work I went home and did the usual things like eat supper and so on. On Saturday, today, I went into Soho which was very good, I found lots of shops, bought lots of things (for myself and presents), and walked all the way from the bottom of Soho to the office. I also rode the subway down. After meeting up with Christian we took the train to Pleasantville where we met with the others and had supper in an all American diner, then for dessert at Ben & Jerry’s. Tonight is my last night in New York, and I am dreading going back to reality. The weather here is ridiculously hot, another factor that makes it all the more harder to go back to England. I am not sure what I will do tomorrow but something not too strenuous I’m hoping, see you all on Monday". Ryan.

Ryan's Thursday

"Today; got up, got on train, got into work, arrived at my usual desk and continued into my daily routine. Which included getting a ‘legendary,’ white & black milkshake which Christian advised me on, not too shabby. I took an extra, extra long lunch break in which I walked for at least an hour or more towards the top of Madison where I bought a couple of new things from the Ralph Lauren which is ridiculously cheap. Today was not out of the ordinary but tomorrow is my last day and it seems as though I have been working a lot longer. The temperature is still boiling, this weekend is set to be the hottest weekend all summer so I am not doing badly on the sun tan front. Over and out." Ryan.

Ryan's Wednesday

"Got up early us usual, had breakfast, went to the train station, and got to the office. Once in the office I continued to progress with Photoshop related activities and learnt how to use the scanner which I then used to scan in some of my New York memorabilia for my NYC collage. I went down and got lunch, explored around for a bit but didn’t venture too far. Then at about 3 got the train to Chappaqua and got home then went for a swim at the swim club. I then walked back and have eaten supper, uploaded various pictures and played some basketball. Just another normal day in the big city for me." Ryan.

Ryan's Tuesday

"This morning I got up early as usual, had breakfast and then Christian and I made our way to the train station. When we arrived at Grand Central, I bought myself a map as I planned to venture further than 40-41st street Madison Avenue. When I arrived in the office I sat down at my desk in the creative department and continued to work on my photo collage on Photoshop. I took a very long lunch break where I walked for at least half an hour, across to 5th Avenue and over about 20 to 30 blocks to the Abercrombie & Fitch. It is very satisfying to see the building you were looking for right in front of you. I spent quite a while in there but also made a few stops in some other shops and managed to spend quite a few dollars. I also went to the local bank to get money out of an ATM because my card isn’t accepted in many shops. After going back to the office for a while I made my own way to the train station, self sufficiently got on the right train and made my way to the Barnett house. I am pretty much ready to leave home by now I think. Tomorrow I may wake up a bit later than Christian and make my own way to the office, most likely on a breakfast of Dunkin’ Doughnuts, not quite as good as Krispy Kremes but a worthy competitor. I am now off to “shoot some hoops,” otherwise known as to play basketball. Not missing you at all as I have no room in my oh so busy schedule for missing people." Ryan.

Ryan's Monday

"This morning I got up at 6:30 and proceeded to leave the house at 7. We got a lift from a neighbor to the train station where I bought my week rail card and had Dunkin’ Doughnuts for breakfast. When we arrived in New York we went straight to the office. I went round most of the different departments and scheduled in when I could go talk to them. After that I spent the rest of my day in the creative department where I played around with photo shop, my task for the week is to create a booklet of all my photos. I had a hot chili sandwich wrap thing from Prêt a Manger, which is next door but as every day progresses I aim to explore a bit further. I also bought a new sim card and phone. Have not managed to fit in any shopping yet nor get any photos of the city really but have learnt my way from Chappaqua to the office. I have also been taught how to play Wii sport which is really, really fun." Ryan.

Ryan's Sunday

"This morning I woke up at about 8’oclock and watched some T.V. in bed, then got up and had breakfast. Next we went to the swim & tennis club and played tennis with George. Then I went to the Chappaqua small supermarket, bigger than the CO-OP but smaller than Waitrose, in which I bought some American foods. Then we went off to the party in the big beautiful house equipped with pool, tennis & basketball court and volleyball & badminton pitch. I had lots of barbeque food & cake and spoke to some of the Americans. I am soon going to go off to bed." Ryan.

Ryan's Saturday

"Everything at the airport went to plan. On the plane I had two meals which were alright, and vaguely watched some film, I slept for about 2 hours. Everything in Newark airport was fine & I arrived in New York at about two then drove back across George Washington Bridge to see a glimpse of the city. When we arrived in Chappaqua we went to the swim club for about an hour, then home for a barbeque. After the barbeque we went to the Ben & Jerry’s shop and I had an enormous cone of chocolate fudge brownie. When we got home from there we played basketball on the drive way, two on two. Then I went off to bed after watching some American cable T.V. It was a very fun (and hot) day." Ryan.

Ryan White

We picked up Ryan White yesterday. Ryan is Giles and Sarah's eldest son. He has come over for a week of work experience with me. He told me that other pupil's work experience isn't quite the same as this! Ryan is going to make some posts whilst he is here.

Tom's Trip

Tom Handley came for a week. It was quite an adventure, and I think he had a good time. In Chappaqua it was BBQs, swim club, cycling (rather a long cycle in fact!), playing great with the boys, Ben and Jerry's, and Dunkin' Donuts. Tom was also around for Memorial Day so we went to went down for the Parade. Here are some pictures of this visit:

A couple of shots from the Memorial Day Parade. Firstly, Tom and Jill with the Taubs: Johnathan being George's coach in this team this year. Secondly, Ollie with his cub scouts; Alexanda Stasko to his left.

Tom also had a couple of trips into the city. He came in with me, and with Jill. He bought some cool sneakers, shorts and a t-shirt.

I wish I had thought of asking him to post a couple of entries on the blog with some photos as it would be signficantly better than this post.