Utterly nuttery

(Not very) interesting New York fact: drivers are allowed to turn right on a red light. This means that they can very easily run over pedestrians who are trying to cross, even though the drivers are supposed to give way. I have given several Paddington Bear Hard Stares to several cars... though in every single circumstance, I've mistakenly aimed it at the empty passenger seat. Curse Americans for driving from the wrong side of the car.

Today it rained. But it mattered not to me (well, not much anyway), as I went out of town to an outlet mall, filled to bursting with goodies. Well, it was filled to bursting with goodies. Now it's mostly empty and most of the goodies are sitting in my hotel room. Not yet thinking about the credit card bill, though reckoning surely it must be my turn to win the lottery soon. Even if I don't buy a ticket. Ever.

To get to the outlet mall this morning I had to take a bus from the Port Authority Bus Terminal, which is apparently now "much safer" than it used to be. I can only assume they used to throw knives at you as you walked in. It had a fantastic collection of utter nutters, including the old lady with a trolley stacked with boxes who muttered to herself. She was an utter muttering nutter. Now, London is not without its fair share of "interesting" social misfits, but there's something a lot more exciting about foreign weirdos. They're more exotic somehow.

So I've a brilliant plan. It is truly brilliant. Round up all of the nutters in both London and New York, and swap them. I am certain an American nutter would do better in terms of begging and sheer entertainment value in London. And as for the London beggars in NYC... no matter how rough your English accent is, they still think you're probably related to the queen, so will definitely shove some cash your way. The public transport system is rejuvenated with a new type of nutter, the nutters get more cash; everyone's a winner!

This evening I met up with an ex-colleague and friend, Cat, who's now living in NYC. She took me to play bingo at a Mexican restaurant in the West Village (ooh, that sounded so New York). We didn't win the bingo, but she did coerce me into a Margarita - my first alcoholic drink in a long time. OK, maybe there wasn't that much coercing. But I'm on holiday! Really good to catch up and I told her all the gossip about our ex-colleagues.

The week is flying by so fast. (And it hasn't stopped raining yet!)