Uptown girl…we’ve been living in our uptown world! Been so preoccupied with our move that Pillar Box Post…well got lost in the move. Things are starting to settle a bit now, which is very welcome at this point!
So….what has been happening? Well we made the big move in early August, spending the first week and a bit seeing the sights of our new hometown. We made the charming Ace Hotel our first stop…LOVED the typography and all the little details–everything has been tended to with love and care. Shame that the staff haven’t had as much love and care…and the music in the lobby made me feel old. Why is everything in NYC soooooo loud? Has everyone gone deaf from the noise?
We did a handful of tourist things like a harbour cruise in the pouring rain (spending the trip eavesdropping on two american teenagers who couldn’t tell Manhattan from New Jersey …and didn’t seem to have an understanding of the September 11 attacks. However they did have 4 smartphones between the two of them, so at least something next to us could be labelled ‘smart’.
Most of all we did a lot of walking…blocks and blocks and blocks. After the Ace we moved into our first sublet on Bleeker street in the West Village, right off Perry Street –the home of loads of movie ‘homes’ like Carrie from Sex and the City. All in all there were lots of complications with the move, nothing awful just annoying–internet not working, phones not working, bills not going through etc. but they reach breaking point at 4 am less than two weeks after arriving. It was a call from our family in England…Olive, our lovely 2.5 year old french bulldog, was very ill in the hospital and we had to make a decisions immediately whether or not to undergo an expensive surgery or to put her down. She had what they thought was a slipped disc and could be paralysed. We went for the surgery and crossed our fingers…and toes and legs.
The next few weeks were rough…Olive was in hospital and then in recovery at my in-laws…my husband was in a job hunt that didn’t seem very positive and I must admit I was a bit homesick. We didn’t have a place of our own, our goods were stuck in shipping purgatory. On the lovely side, we were getting to see someone from my family more in a few weeks than I probably did in the last two years…and then slowly, gradually things started picking up!
We were able to secure a longer sublet in the upper west side ( by forking over 4 months rent at once, eek!). An empty apartment, but at least it wasn’t full of someone else’s junk! And then the turning point — a job for my husband! It was a super quick turnaround and the pieces started to fall into place. Olive had hydrotherapy in England and was finally able to fly over and join us in October. Our shipment of clothes, books and my home goods arrived shortly after and bit by bit we are getting things into place.
Thank you all for stopping by after such a long time away and I really appreciate the comments in my absence. I truly never thought anyone would notice and it was very touching to know someone out there did!
Now, onwards and upwards and I promise future posts will be a bit shorter, more colourful and a bit more exciting! The red British post box has been officially moved to Manhattan…the post is in!
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About the images…I thought it was fitting to ‘restart’ Pillar Box Post in the way that it originally came about, with a shop window photo! I spotted this fabulous window display on west 20th street (and 6th avenue) around the corner from my work. It appears to be for a ‘bag manufacturer’ who create shopping bags and advertisements. Their recreation of New York out of paper bags with adorably detailed paintings is inspired. I don’t have a use for this idea, but I know there is one out there somewhere. Perhaps we DO need a two bedroom apartment after all… for a village of pillar boxes made out of paper bags!?
Photos by Pillar Box Post
