We went out for a couple of drinks after we got in, it is now 0545 and I am still up. A couple of drinks was just that (3 in fact), mostly in pursuit of a couple of Irish girls from the hostel. They said they were going to an Irish bar, so off we went to Playwrights for one, Pat got confused about their identities and we decided they weren't there, and retired to Waxy O'Connor's across the road. In Waxy's we nursed a pint for ages, and the stressed out Irish barman sent Pat off to buy him some fags, which may explain some of the rest of the evening events. We sat and watched some baseball, decided to get a second pint, and just after we did this a girl came over to invite Pat over to join her and her friends. After some indecision I went over too, talked to one of them who was quite interesting, then somehow ended up talking to the third one, Sarah, about lots of subjects I really didn't want to discuss. These included, amongst others, guns and mace and other apparently ubiquitous weaponry. I think I made my pacifist case quite well, but you never can tell. She said she was "leaving after this drink" about three times, and had a problem with some girl from the bathroom, who I ended up talking to instead - she was an astonishingly hot girl (lady, rather - all of these people were at least 30, I think. Although that's a Miami 30, which is a confusing age) who was all in white, works in a gallery and as it turns out is the exclusive representative of Peter Lik. She was cool and gorgeous and funny, said the c-word a couple of times and entirely relished it, but when they kicked us out she immediately rushed off and got a cab, and God knows what her name is. Bugger. We returned to the hostel and I had a mild encounter with a hot Irish chick who liked my hair, inexplicably, but that's it. Goodnight.
So to continue the mammoth day I was up at 9ish feeling exhausted, and we headed off to the airport. Annoyingly, our flight was delayed by an hour and a half due to the crazy rainstorm that occurred. We checked in with no fuss, and I hung out and listened to That's What She Said - Emerald and Angela's radio show from Isla Vista - for a bit. Pat was asleep before we took off, and the very friendly air steward moved us from front seats to exit seats, which had loads more legroom. he could see we were in trouble and needed to stretch out and sleep. What a hero. For the entire flight we alternated dozing and listening to Air, which we swapped for Prince as we landed. For some reason this made us incredibly happy. I tried to persuade Pat to get the subway to the hostel, but he made some good points about luggage and laziness, so I conceded. We had some nice views of the city as we came in to Manhattan, but our mood was rather soured when we arrived at Jazz On The Park. The place was rubbish. The rooms were cramped and run down, the beds were tiny and squeaky, and it just seemed like somewhere Clare definitely would not enjoy. We tried to sleep for an hour but failed, so instead we went to try and switch rooms which took well over an hour. The staff were friendly and helpful enough, although the girl at reception didn't have a clue what she was doing, whereas the dude (Victor) knew what was going on and sorted us out. All this time we were also doing some research about other places to stay, most of which was fruitless. We were moved to an empty 4 bed with no air conditioning (it is stupidly hot here), then eventually to what they claimed was a twin room, but was in fact a bunk. By this point I was so knackered that we gave up and took it for two nights, pledging to look for somewhere else tomorrow. As things stand, we have this room for two nights, then a booking (not yet paid for) for three more afterwards, for the three of us in a dorm. All this nonsense set aside, we walked to Broadway for dinner, and stopped at the Lime Leaf Thai restaurant. Pat and I had an awesome pad see yew & monkfish stuffed with prawns respectively, all of which was delicious. We walked 10 blocks or so along Broadway then back along Amsterdam, and along the way we checked out a family room at Jazz On The City which was perfect for us. It was clean and freshly renovated, had a double and a bunk bed, towels and soap supplied, and was also booked solid for the next few weeks. The only night it was empty was tonight, unfortunately. We will resume our searching tomorrow, as it is now nearly 1 am, clearly time for a long sleep. I am really worried Clare will hate it here - this is the first time in ages that someone else's happiness has been directly in my hands, and it's rather overwhelming. Fingers crossed, eh?
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