Well, here I am, in New York baby!

My last two days in Devon were just delightful. I think that is a very good word to decribe my time there. Sunday was another just beautiful day, and Sarah took me to the Devon moor, which is simply stunning. There were moor ponies, cattle and sheep left on the moor, which is common ground, and going wherever they please (particularly right in the middle of the road when you are trying to drive past).

We walked up to haytor to get a wonderful sweeping view of the countryside. I only whinged a little bit about walking on such a steep uphill, and then climbing up the rock, and then whinging just a little bit on the way down again...

I was mollified by a trip to the pub afterwards, such a beautiful little pub where we feasted on a cheese ploughmans. Imagine a cheese that tastes as good as clotted cream, mmmmmmmmmmmm

One of our tasks of the day was also to video my song for this part of my trip. We put quite a lot of effort into it, I can tell you! We didnt think about the fact that if you turn your camera sideways, as you might to take a picture, then the video turns out sideways and you cant easily rotate it like you can a picture. Then we had wind trouble, then light trouble. I have put our second attempt up here because it is funny and the view is superb from the top of haytor, and I have put our final accepted version up, as well as a short video of me demonstrating how to do a gate vault!! :-)

After all that activity, we returned home where Sarah once again produced some of the most amazing food I have ever eaten, a delicious joint of devon raised beef with a mustard coating, new potatoes that were divine and veggies from her own garden. What a talented chef!! And she's MY friend!!!

Monday was a bit of a preparation day for my trip to New York and today... hurrah!!! I am here!! The flight with Virgin Atlantic was fine, they looked after us well. The inflight entertainment system was having major problems, and try as they might to fix it, they couldnt fix my screen. Instead of getting "The Blind Side" I got some japanese war movie... not ideal entertainment for myself. Still, I had my book and I chatted a bit to the lady sitting next to me. She was on my deaf side, poor love, and it took her five minutes to get my attention to let me know she needed to go to the loo. I told her that I was deaf and she needed to give me a prod if I wasnt responding to her. Well, she was excellent after that. She prodded me several times, didnt feel embarassed about it at all, and made sure that when she spoke to me she was looking right at me. She was doing alright for an old woman until she said the dreaded phrase "you never know, you might find the man of your dreams on your travels". Still, I was in too good a mood about being in New York to hold it against her for too long.

I got through passport control just fine, and eventually got my case off the conveyor belt. It took a bit of time to come through and I panicked a little, but it did come in the end. Yesterday I had booked a shared mini bus from the airport to my hostel and it was all very smooth sailing. The driver was italian columbian, and he gave me my first example of the conversation i can imagine having quite a few times here... "where are you from?" "Cyprus" "What's a Cyprus?" lol. He was quite chatty, asking me how long I was staying "three days" "Ah, shame, not long enough for me to cook you dinner" and "so, is this your first time here" "yep" "you looking forward to it?" "yep" "you have a boyfriend?" "er... yep!!!!"

And here I am. The hostel is grotty. I am itching all over at the thought of staying here for the next few days - but, as with the hotel in London, I shant really be staying in the room for that long, filling my days instead with wondering around this amazing city. I'm looking forward to getting my bearings tomorrow and trying to figure out where I actually am, and enjoying NEW YORK!!!