And so, at dawn on the morning of the 9th Paul packed his bags from Blacksburg, took a bus to Roanoke and traversed the Blue Ridge Parkway to Rusty’s Hard Time Hollow in a hire car he had picked up. After saying our goodbyes, we cruised up the highways of the East towards NYC stopping at just about every motorway service station to keep ourselves amused along the way. The game; ‘fast food crawl’ and baring 'dunkin dounuts' we did them all.
Our estimated time of arrival shifted from 10pm to 5am. Jen, Tom’s Mum had been eagerly awaiting our arrival and hadn’t managed to get a wink of sleep. Once again the ‘English Muffins’ showed punctuality to be one of there flying forte’s! Jen and her friend Zoe are extraordinary gourmet chefs. For the past 5 years they have been coming to Long Island to cook at the Watermill Arts Centre.
Every year artists from all around the world are invited to come on a summer program to collaborate with the centre on up and coming projects and exhibit their works. We stayed in a beautiful house not far from the centre in South Hampton.
The beach was a 10 minute drive away and so we spent a few days cruising around and investigating the area, adjourning to the beach in the afternoons and exploring the local wildlife by night. Seabass to die for...
Jen and Zoe put on an amazing spread, the food was out of this world, every breakfast, lunch and dinner was carefully thought through, never faultering from the gastronomic delights fit for the gods. We were welcomed like wizards, suffered the hospitality of royalty, the love and mothering of fairy godmothers. Jen & Zoe you are absolute Legends in our eyes, we love you!
Sweeney Todd attending to Duffy's chin shield. The Amish jokes finally got the better of him!
On Thursday morning we left Long Island and took a train into ‘The Big Apple’ to sample some of the delights that this notorious city has to offer. Shortly after checking into the hostel, the infamous Nick Gall arrived by yellow taxi. If there’s something you need to know about this illusive international man of mystery, he doesn’t shy a way from a party! Charlie and Nick go back many years from Prep school days and grew up opposite one another in ‘The Ghetto’ also known as Little Gaddesden in Hertfordshire. The reunion was immense and those Virginia Blues soon forgotten. 
Matt (left & below) Nick (centre) Moutain Yeti (right)
Nick’s friend and flat mate Matt Barker also flew in the following day to join in the antics before they headed out on a road trip into the abyss of the open road for a week or so. Thursday was a boozy affair and consequently friday morning’s strict sight seeing itinerary rather fell by the wayside.
We managed to see some odds and sods but the statue of Liberty- Charlie’s monumental ambition shattered as they missed the last ferry by a whisker, left with an expression only comparable to the horror of a small child receiving coal on Xmas day morning.
Ground Zero...
As the beer flu had finally run it’s course we headed over to a Jazz restaurant near Central Park, where we met Simon, Tom’s Dad. Simon aka Wolly had flown over from Hong Kong to spend a few days hiking with the Muffins. It had been a long time in the planning and a great pleasure for us to finally meet him. Duffy’s great friend Tegwen Morgan and her accomplice Alice Harkness also joined us for dinner making a total party of nine. Duffy was over the moon to see a familiar face in Teg. The girls seemed a trifle nervous on meeting the four bearded warriors but were soon at ease after being alured by the charm behind the beards naturally. Somehow, God knows, Simon got roped into treating the whole party to an amazing dinner. Huge thank you’s all round Wolly!
After dinner we met up with Master Simon Viney an old contemporary of Nick and Charlie’s from Locker’s Park. It had been many years and really cool to catch up with him. Simon showed us a few bars and clubs and stoically stayed up until the bitter end. In fact there wasn’t an awful lot of sleeping that night, none at all for some! With a bit of juice left in the tank, round 2 sight seeing seemed fitting. After some jolly marching around the city, Charlie went chasing after the statue again, whilst Simon and Duffy caught the Arsenal match.
The following events were a little disastrous. Tom’s Birthday dinner was booked at a wonderful restaurant in South Hampton for 8.30pm. Wolly drove Tom and Paul back nice and early, enjoying an afternoon at the beach, well rested and content.
Nick, Matt, Simon and Duffy had a luncheon engagement to attend and so agreed to follow on latterly, only to discover train delays would put there 8.30pm arrival in jeopardy. Charlie however managed to make a real meal of things. After missing the rendezvous for one reason or another he attempted to make his way back without money, a mobile phone or the benefit of a number to call.
The trains were no longer feasible and an unsuccessful taxi voyage had left the chances of making it back that night a doubtful prospect let alone dinner. A quick 10 minute power nap in a park swallowed 3 hours too. Left to the satanic mercy of an angry taxi driver who had misquoted by $200 realising 20 minutes into the ride, thumbs were down as he spat Charlie out 10 blocks from the bus terminal where he had originally jumped in. The final chance was to battle back across town on foot and race to catch the last bus to the Hamptons. It felt like the end of the world. On arrival to the bus, Charlie asked the conductor whether he could pay for his fare on at the other end. "No F**cking way buddy" was his response. Charming! In a last desperate bid for survival he boarded the bus and asked for everybody’s attention. Looking rather disheveled and wearing a ridiculous t-shirt he spoke out to a sea of apathetic faces. “Ladies and Gentleman, I have gotten myself into a bit of a pickle, I am due for dinner in South Hampton within the hour for my friend Tom’s birthday. Some other friends have flown all the way over from the UK to see us for a couple of days and I have managed to loose my wallet and phone hence my predicament. Could anyone take a chance and bail me out until South Hampton where I will be met with the fare? It’s been a rough day and desperation has forced me to this, i apologise”. Don’t all rush at once he thought as heads shook in disgust at this bearded monstrosity. There was a PREGNANT pause... Deep at the back of the coach however, a smile beamed, laughing at his predicament and remembering all too well some of the sticky situations travelling can entail. Mary-Lee was the hero of the day. Charlie will be forever indebted to her. Despite one last upset with the bus station being in a different location than presumed, amazingly all members of the Westbrook/ Muffin party made it to the restaurant before last orders were called from the kitchen. It was nothing short of a miracle we can assure you. Matt, Nick and Duffy had turned up with two bouquets of flowers as a peace offering expecting to be the last to arrive but were in fact the first, much to their amazement and subsequent hilarity. That night was a blast as we saw Tom’s birthday in, in true style. The relief was astounding. As the days events unfolded, we all creased ourselves in regailing the many hickups. The following day we headed to Shelter Island to continue the celebrations on the beach at a very classy beach restaurant/ bar.
The bar bill was astronomical but it didn’t matter one bit as the lads enjoyed quite an astonishing array of eye candy. They drank to calm the nerves, not til they were pretty! We headed back relatively early via a pizza and stayed up till the wee small hours abiding bythose familiar lyrics of old Eagle Eye Cherry's crowning tune (Save tonight and fight the break of dawn Come tomorrow tomorrow I'll be gone). The big push to Vermont to continue hiking was at dawn the following morning, so we managed to get a quick forty winks before the sun rose on the next adventure. Leaving was emotional after such an amazing break and saying goodbye to Jen and Zoe who have been so wonderful to us. Jen is one of the most generous people you could ever meet! Similarly it was tough to say farewell to Nick & Matt. We are so glad they came to join us- bloody good times!
Nice shirt!
No comments:
Post a Comment