Country Mouse

Autumn in New York

WE got home from New York to find that the Aga had gone out and the dogs looking as if the end of the world had arrived. Worse, Anna lost her phone on the plane and, despite spending 20 minutes searching under seats after all the other passengers had left, it couldn’t be found. If I didn’t already know that this is a very serious situation for a 16 year old, I do now.

Our record as a travelling family is poor; both sons have lost their passports, one on the Eurostar and another on a flight in Zambia. Unfortunately, my own track record prevents me from doing more than raising an eyebrow at these calamities, having once been stopped from flying to India for a holiday due to not having a visa. I bought Anna a new phone the next day.

New York was brutally expensive and as compelling as ever. If you haven’t been recently, the Freedom Tower on the site of the 9/11 atrocity is a jaw-dropping experience as you race up 100 floors, watching a video of the building of the great city. At the top, the screen clears into a window and the whole array of skyscrapers appears in front of you. Whatever happens with the election, the Big Apple hasn’t lost its capacity to amaze. MH