Not Another Time Change!

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, 11 March, 2023.

Last night's weather forecast threatened snow but it was just heavy rain, this morning. RJ decides that it's too wet for her to participate. She'd looked at having her haircut today but when she asked last night they replied that they only take reservations on the day. What is the point of that? Great atmosphere at the parkrun. Runners include a guy from Burnley, a Brit with a friend in Holmfirth and three women, one from Australia and two from DC. The organiser's wife tells PG that she'd been run over at a previous parkrun, so make sure that you turn before the gate. He certainly did! She also said that eagles often fly over the briefing, looking for any weak or slow ones, perhaps. No such luck today. Course is flat but it's the first run since Atlanta so slow. The guy from Burnley lives in Princeton, his wife is studying there at the university. He tells us that it's close so we decide to visit there after checking out.

The drive takes about 30 minutes through some lovely countryside. We park in in a pay car park for 3 hours and wander along the streets. Eventually, we settle on a restaurant called Maman. It's very busy but a waiter asks a table if we can share. We order "Mama's Sandwich", a bun with avocado, fried egg and bacon jam (pickle). We stroll around the town, RJ finds a ring and we discover Einstein's statue. He lived his final years' and died here.

We'd driven through Kingston on the way to Princeton so decided to stop on the way back.we enjoy three pancakes with strawberries, cream and maple syrup between the two of us at PJ's Pancakes.

Then, we're off to JFK, traffic is easy until we leave New Jersey. Then it becomes horrendous. We need petrol so leave the turnpike and get stuck in local traffic under the elevated railway. It feels like we're in a film! We go back to the expressway and find a petrol station in the central reservation. Fill up costs $15 even though we must have done 130 miles. The only problem is rejoining into the fast lane.

Finish the journey to Car Rental without further issue. The guy tells us to leave the car running and we're good to go. The shuttle bus has stopped since COVID so we're on the Airtrain back to terminal 4. We drop the main bag off at an office where we need to book through the internet, upload copies of our itinerary and passports. Then the assistant produces a scruffy bit of paper for a signature! Back to the Airtrain to Jamaica Central to catch the metro. We struggle to buy a ticket until helped by aa attendant. The only trouble is that we don't know which station to get off and, unlike London, there is no map. A young girl tells us that, if she was clever, she'd know the station but she's not so can't. We finally board the platform and acost a young girl that tells us we want 53/7 Avenue, 13 stops away. We alight quickly understand the grid system but don't know the direction. A waiter from a restaurant explains it for us.

The hotel is centrally positioned, nicely furnished but there's something missing. No map of the underground, they may come tomorrow. No tea bags, they might come tomorrow.

We walk down to Times Square. It's absolutely buzzing. Throngs of visitors, people selling videos, photo opportunities for sale, bus tours etc. All a bit overwhelming actually. We soak up the atmosphere and return to the hotel. Where we learn that the clocks go forward at 2am tomorrow morning. More havoc for our body clocks.