AND TODAY'S NEWS IS...

... that Charles is on the warpath with the hotel staff, who have deducted massive amounts of money from the account HE TOLD THEM NOT TO TAKE ANYTHING FROM!
It's the second time this has happened. Every time we change rooms we get a bill and he has already had to remind them of the account they CAN draw on. So now that it has happened again he really is furious. He managed however to get a free breakfast out of them in the very nice bar downstairs...
...oh here he is. Quote, as he walked through the door, 'Cor, what a faff!' Clearly things are NOT yet sorted out, so he will be on tenterhooks until they are.

We haven't got a clue what we're doing today. I'm loaded with cold and have made a number of visits to Duane Reade to try to find something that will keep the symptoms at bay. Nothing has worked so far and we all ended up having a sleepless night as I coughed, sneezed and spluttered my way through the early hours, although I HAVE just returned from my now daily visit with a pack of heavy duty Sudafed which might dry me up a bit.

It's a beautiful day here; a little cooler than recently, but clear blue skies, so ideal for another of our long walks - probably back up to the park again. We spent a couple of happy hours there yesterday watching the teams from each of the Broadway shows playing softball. This is a regular league and is clearly taken very seriously. Unfortunately we missed the cast of the Lion King and Billy Elliot and the game we watched appeared to be comprised of stage crew - but maybe that saved us from the worst of the 'lovey' stuff!

One thing that has been fascinating, although we don't understand it at all, is the 'NFL draft' which began last night. This is the equivalent of our football transfer window, except that it only lasts for two days and all the prospective candidates have been identified through the college league. We haven't got a clue how the 'pick' works, but clearly all the players are waiting to be selected by a team and once this happens the TV cameras are there capturing their reaction and that of their tearfully proud parents and extended families who all seem to need to outshriek each other when the pick comes in.

To be honest it seems a really effective way of doing business - get everyone who is up for transfer identified, get your bids in within an extremely limited time frame and away you go. All the guys that were picked last night appeared delighted with the outcome regardless of where in the country they ended up going. Such a system could really benefit the likes of NUFC and even other less fashionable clubs, like dare I say Sunderland, who appear to have difficulty attracting players. Just put them all in a pot and tell them they're going to whoever bids for them - done, no argument.

Talking of NUFC, we are of course going to end up missing the last home game of the season, the one at which we are crowned champions and at which we expect the new kit to be revealed. We are, as you might imagine, a little ****** off by this, although Charles has made the most of the situation by selling our tickets back to the club! If anyone manages to get any footage of the events of the day - please record it for us, so we can t least say we've witnessed something of the celebrations.

And finally, for this post, how are my girls, my babies, my little cherubs? Charles found a video he had made the morning we left for New York and has just played it for me. It shows little `Lily tugging at his leg to get him to play in her 'Come on Dad, it's playtime' sort of way. I could have wept!

Oh and REALLY finally - you'll be thrilled to know that the Sudafed is working and I am now able to breath again. (It's always good to be able to breathe!)