It Finally Happened...

I fell asleep on a park bench during the day.

Yes, folks I just plum fell over asleep during the day in Central Park on a bench. All I needed was an aluminum can and a paper bag.

Here is a re-enactment:



[reenactment taken by author.]


I had a job interview in the morning and then met with some of my old colleagues at the channel. This was a 4 + hour adventure. I decided to walk to Columbus Circle and get something healthy to eat so that I could rationalize eating a whipped cream, cake and fruit parfait before hitting the gym. This salad + water + parfait was a $16 meal! I ate it on a park bench so I could feel all " I am embracing my city" with it. And I did.


But I woke up next to two African nannies with shockingwhite babies and an Hispanic man. A copy of "Eat, Pray, Love" lay on my chest and there was some druelage. I cannot decide what was worse: the passing out in the middle of a day on the bench or being seen reading Chicklit. After all I have admitted aren't I healthy enough to not care? I imagined a Greek classic or at least something by one of those Bronte sisters. Alas, I am sure no one cared.


That evening I had dinner with Pip Short. He is a director on "Coronation Street" in the UK, Blighty's biggest and longest running soap. My good pal Alexandra Boyd is on the show and when Pip was coming to New York she suggested we meet. (My sis Eileen will love to know that he was the 1st AD on "Pride and Prejudice" with Colin Firth. How cool is that? What a great work of television. )


We had dinner on the east side at Isle of Capri on 3rd Avenue at 61st Street. I LOVED it. It was open in 1955 and La Mamma still works there. Food was really good, excellent atmosphere and reasonable. Very for me as Pip paid! We had such a good time telling stories and relating to each others' experiences. If it weren't for his girlfriend I may have made a move! Ha! What a supper nice guy. I do hope I see him next time I am back in England. And we spoke about the "you never know" factor of meeting new people. And you don't.

Pip and Pat: a 1950's magic act on the boardwalk in Brighton.

As I walked back towards the gym on the westside where for some inexplicable reason I went swimming at 10pm on a stomach filled with penne, I delighted once again in how happy and fortunate I am with the people I meet and the places I go in my new city.