Is it Love Actually


(Written: New York, 33rd St – Picture: New York, 5th Ave)

While I drink my Milky Way tea in the Starbucks right beside the Empire State Building (and let’s be honest there are worse places to drink your tea – behind your computer screen at work just to name one) I read (or rather greedily indulge) my new book:

Writing the Romantic Comedy.

Sold out in Waterstones London, but Barnes & Noble in New York luckily had it. And even if you have no intention of becoming a screen writer, if you love romantic comedies this book is like chocolate cake with cream and a little red cherry on top.

While reading – a girl sits down at a table next to me.
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Ordinary world

New York - break dance - Central Park

She walked all the way from the market on Union Square (14th) until the edges of Central Park that day. It felt good, and because New York was melting for her with lots of sunshine it gave her a feeling of spring. Both on the outside of her body, it was nice to be able to drop the gloves, but also inside her mind. It felt like after a long dark winter, she was slowly waking up again. The sun on her face, the sounds of the city it felt good.

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New York

Written in the plane from Beijing to London:
OK, OK I don’t get it, people who think flying is a drag. I am sitting here with a cup of tea, the Milky Way (that has been ages ago!), a KitKat and a piece of chocolate cake, laughing my ears off watching the brilliant Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada on the screen in front of me. Tell me – what’s not to like about flying?

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To the Gate of Intense Happiness

I’m nearly ready, I need to iron one (can’t watch Bill in a t-shirt) shirt, than I am going to try to catch some sleep. How does one spend a last day before departing (I had the day off), well I did it like this. You would probably have spend it a lot cleverer.

(Sorry no time for a picture on this post! And no time for rewriting and spellchecking either)
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Staring at the blank page before me

Imagine

I don’t know what it is, but if my horoscope today (Friday that is – wait a minute – since when did I start believing those things – well since they started writing thing like these) writes a fine mist has settled over your brain and your thoughts are not clear than that is exactly what is wrong with me, and I am wondering who the hack told them.

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Eternal ramblings from a messed up mind III

The Girl In The Cafe - DVD

10 people died because of the storm here in the UK yesterday. The train traffic was disrupted in London because of it, but I somehow managed to move around it all. One of the men who died, died in Shropshire. Which made me think about Oliver Lucas in The Vertical Hour again, as he lived in Shropshire as well. A minor spot on the map, and if it hadn’t been for that play I would never ever have known about Shropshire at all. Now I do, I even looked it up on the map when I got home. And suddenly it is weird to hear that someone died of the storm there.

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The girl with kaleidoscope eyes

New York State of my mind

This is what New York looks like in my mind. Very colourful, like a soap bubble I have to protect from bursting.
It’s also what I (or about 12 of me) look like in New York if you look carefully, I’m standing somewhere on 23rd Street, where this picture originally was taken.
Funny enough, the center of this picture (unintentionally but cool) looks like a kiss, so here’s to you New York.

Sometimes an image says more than a 1000 words, this one does for me. And I wouldn’t be able to write 1000 words about New York without the B. word anyway, so here you go.
You have to do with this.

Picture yourself in a boat on a river,
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes

The Vertical Hour – a review, and a simple twist of fate

The Vertical Hour - Bill Nighy

After nearly 2 weeks, digesting both the trip and the play (I still haven’t really landed in London yet, it’s a weird feeling), it’s time for a personal review of The Vertical Hour. I warn you up front, it has become a long post, that’s what happens when my heart takes over from my head. If you haven’t seen the play you might not be interested in reading it at all. If you still have to see they play (lucky you) you might want to wait reading it until you have seen it, although I promise not to tell you how it’s ending. I felt the need to write it down, so here you go. And there is a beautiful song to hear in this post, I promise you that.
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Happy New Year from Nighy York

The Vertical Hour
The city here is crazy at the moment, 42nd Street / Times Square (I had to go back there after the play to get the subway), it is the street with the coolest name, that’s for sure, is at this moment also the most busiest street in New York. Already nearly completely closed down for trafiic for this evenings New Year’s celebrations, I have never seen this much police on the streets in my life. The NY policemen are very nice though, nice and helpful. I understand now why they couldn’t have an evening performance in the Music Box, we would never ever have gotten out of the theatre. There are hundreds of thousands of people on the street, and they were already there when I went to the theatre at 13.30. It is cold outside in New York, so it has been a long wait for them. I hope they enjoy their evening, I think I prefer to watch it on tv in stead.

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In a New York minute, everything will change

I know it’s pathetic to write “not sure I will be writing before the end of the year bla bla bla” just to show up the next day again. I found a cheap internetcafe at last and I mostly had to check if I hadn’t written anything completely ridiculous yesterday, as I was quite a bit out of my mind, and flying very, very high. I still am, but I like to think that my head is a little bit more clearly now. Every 5 minutes I need to check if I haven’t dreamt it all though. Not pathetic at all, I know.
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New York, New York

Well I am alive and well, and I am in New York!
It is an overwhelming city, with very very few internet cafe’s, took me until now to find this one, and they are very expensive. So – dear readers, I am afraid that that means that updates here will be more or less postponed until I am back in London.

A few quickies though:
My body seems to want to wake up at 5am in the middle of the night since I am here, shouting “Come on yoohoo let’s stand up” and then my head answers “don’t be ridiculous, it is the middle of the night it is dark, get back to sleep”. I don’t know if that is a reversed jetlag or just the nerves for the play, which is in about 4.5 hours from now. I already checked the route to The Music Box Theatre, so I know where it is. And I am extremely exited to finally watch it.

My hotel had a stack of Vertical Hour flyers in stock, so Bill is all around. Times Square is intimidating, New York cabdrivers have to be the most rude ones in the world, the subway is a bit more of a challenge to find your way in than in London, the Empire State Building is huge (not sure I dare to go in there though, I am afraid of heights and it intimidates me too much), I saw Blood Diamonds which is an incredible film with Leonardo DiCaprio, and I have already nearly written a whole notebook full of ramblings. And I have only been here for a day.

But fear not : New York is a cool city to be, but London is the place for me. Now we just want our Englishman back.

I greet you from the Big Apple.