I'm suffering from location envy again. In other words my mind is tossing around the idea of moving to New York. Yes, I know that last time it was D.C. I guess I can't make my mind up. On my last two trips here I've seen only the good sides, and on each occasion I was staying in a nice hotel. Despite that reality check, I did find myself checking my company's website to see if they had any New York vacancies for people in my position - and they do. Hmmm.

Class passed quickly today and by two I was a free man for the weekend. The weather had warmed up again and despite the heavy tiredness behind my eyes, the warmth and the Autumn rustle of the leaves in Central Park beckoned me to go running again, the forty or so blocks up to the Met, then back again.

After a rest, and a shower, I started to get dressed, but lay down, too tired to dress, looking out at the crowds on Broadway. I imagined everyone to be filled with the same anticipation of a warm, Autumn weekend. But I had to dress, eventually, since John Paul would be here, my old buddy from San Francisco, who now lives about two hours North of New York, with his sister and family. John Paul has many great qualities, but punctuality isn't always one of them :) (I have to be careful what I write now, since he tells me he read my journal yesterday!)

Before long, we were outside with the crowds, doing what we always did best - yakk with each other over coffee. Hunger called and we grabbed a quick salad at a local Irish bar. (Salad in an Irish restaurant - that's a find!) I don't know how New Yorkers can stand eating in restaurants which such loud music. Over the cacophony, John Paul and I continued to chat about my idea of moving to New York, and about his sudden interest in webcams.

In the Irish bar

After dinner, we cut across 8th Avenue, and down Forty-Fifth Street, to see Dame Edna's "Royal Tour", at the (as she kept putting it) "tiny, little tucked away Booth Theater."

The crowds outside the Booth Theater

That particular block of Forty Fifth is full of big theaters, and was brightly lit, and festive, with lines snaking in and out of each building. There was an excitement to the air that you don't feel when you go to the theater in most other cities. A kindly couple of older gay guys offered to take our photo with Dame Edna - sort of :)

John Paul, Keith and Dame Edna

The show itself was hilariously over the top, with Dame Edna picking on audience members, telephoning someone's baby-sitter at home, inviting up a couple of women and ordering them to dine on stage to Italian food and wine freshly ordered from "Barrymores", and finally dressing up the people she'd picked on the most as Princes Albert and Charles, Fergie and the Queen Mum so that they could be her royal courtiers. Just another day in New York!