In the land of the big people, what is one to do in order to not keep up with the Jones? As it happens, there is plenty of opportunity to get out and about and run around here.
After only a few days at work Wayne signed up to run a 3.5 mile ‘corporate cup’ type event. This is quite a big thing on Long Island with 6000 participants and all of the different organisations having tents and putting on food and drinks. For dinner in the Brookhaven tent there were ‘heros’, which turn out to be 3 foot long sandwiches. And a keg of what I think was beer, of a sort. Brookhaven Lab put in a pretty strong team, including the overall second placed woman, with Wayne coming in 7th out of the Brookhaven contingent.
Brookhaven is also looking good for team sports. We have to wait until Fall (that would be October or thereabouts) for a new competition season to start, but we have started playing volleyball and ultimate frisbee. Volleyball is pretty popular here, with an ‘in house’ competition of around 20 teams in 4 different grades. Having never played before (ignoring Year 8 PE class) I have a lot to learn and need some practise, but it has been fun so far.
One of the benefits of living out in the sticks is that there are plenty of quiet roads to ride on. Wayne has found a route to work that mostly keeps him out of the traffic. And I have a new bike (which is lovely, her name is Maz) and am going to have fun exploring around the place. My first ride ended up on some single track that lead to a beach. Nice! Cyclists are not common here and so far we have found that drivers give you a very wide berth (Melbourne drivers should take note).
And then there is always Shank’s Pony. Not a popular past time for many around here, but possible, as long as you don’t require a footpath, as they are not at all popular. Where walking is really the way to go is in the city. On a trip into Manhattan I had no real agenda except to just wander about the city. I caught the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) to Penn Station and then checked out about 10 km of NYC streets on foot. Lowlight was Times Square (it’s crowded, it’s surrounded by tourist traps and it’s not even square). Highlight was ‘The High Line’. This is a new park created out of an old elevated railway. The architecture and design is brilliant. An escape from the city has been created, for walking, or just sitting and contemplating.
As I stare out the window at Hotham at the blizzard (gusting winds to 90kph and horizontal snow), it looks positively insane to see a picture of Wayne in running singlet and shorts! It's WAY too cold. Keep up the updates. It's great to hear what you are up to. The High Line looks like something to check out when I plan my trip to NY - sometime next year I think. Just got to sort out this silly credit card debt!
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