FUN, FUN, FUN, FUN, FUN, FUN, FUN, FUN, FUN, FUN,

Chuck Long checking in from the road – this time on a train heading to Boston. After 4 days in New York City it was time to pack up the swag and venture to new parts. The jet lag is finally starting to wane although by 11pm each night, Chuck and Mrs Long are stumbling around like the living dead. Why Boston you ask? Good question. Chuck has deftly played it off to Mrs Long as an opportunity to see the Northeast of the United States at the beginning of Spring. Unfortunately Mrs Long wasn’t born yesterday and quickly realised that the Boston Red Sox happened to be playing at the same time. So much for that well thought out ruse.


New York lived up to its reputation as a place with something for everyone. The first full day in town was designated ‘shopping’ day which was a bitter sweet experience. Sweet for Chuck, extremely bitter for Mrs Long who is now more than 6 months pregnant and severely limited in her clothing options. Being the thoughtful soul that Chuck is, it was determined that the morning would be spent on Mrs Long and her sartorial needs. After a quick stop at the Nike store (ok, sometimes Chuck’s thoughtfulness wavers), it was time to hit “Destination Maternity” which may have been the most impressive maternity store that Chuck has ever been to (and the only one). This store featured brand maternity wear designed to make every woman fashionably pregnant.


It was reassuring to find that you can still grossly over pay for jeans even when you’re pregnant and the top of the jeans are removed and replaced with an elastic band. After what seemed like an eternity, Mrs Long triumphantly emerged from the fitting room in her sparkling new maternity jeans. Fortunately the shop had free juice, water and cookies to entertain the random males straggling around. Chuck also took advantage of the computer (used to look up brands) by surfing the internet. There was also considerable opportunity to offer Chuck’s couture expertise to the numerous women on solo shopping missions (potentially hundreds of bastard children on the way judging by the lack of males in the place).


It’s quite amusing watching pregnant women shop – Mrs Long being no different. This was a reasonably upmarket establishment so most of the women there obviously liked to look good and knew a little about clothing. Here was a group of well turned out ladies purchasing clothing yet at the same time hating the experience because they were both limited for options and more than likely pining for their old bodies back. From the loot that Mrs Long walked away with from the experience, it would be fair to say that nothing got her overly excited at all and that she’d be fairly excited to put in a rubbish bag the minute the child is born.


The one true advantage to this shopping expedition was that Mrs Long now had a range of outfits that actually fitted her comfortably. Well, comfortable is probably not the word that she’d use to describe the jeans, especially when they gave her a red rash all over her legs within 2 hours. Freshly outfitted (and before the rash kicked in), Chuck and Mrs Long made their way up Fifth Avenue where all of the biggest brands have an outlet. This was even more painful for Mrs Long as she couldn’t even try anything on that caught her eye – despite Chuck suggesting that a “purchase and hope” strategy could be used. This strategy involves buying things in your pre pregnancy size and then hoping that it fits once you’ve had the child.



Mrs Long wasn’t buying this (figuratively or literally).


Sunday was spent at a sporting event.


Monday was spent strolling through Central Park and visiting the Guggenheim Museum. Central Park is amazing on a number of levels – from the sheer size of it in the middle of a concrete jungle, to how lovely it actually is. Visiting Strawberry Fields (the park that John Lennon used to hang out in) was a cool experience. The Guggenheim had an art exhibition featured which wasn’t nearly as impressive as the wing where they displayed a range of Picasso’s, Monets, Cezannes and a variety of other classics.


The day concluded with a trip to the meatpacking district, which surprisingly is not a gay nightclub scene. As the name suggests, the area was New Yorks supplier and distributor of meat products, In recent times, redevelopment has seen the area become significantly more upmarket with the warehouses being transformed into galleries, boutiques and restaurants. The cobblestone streets give off an old school vibe but the atmosphere is most definitely ‘cool’. Chuck and Mrs Long took a punt on a restaurant called Spice Market which served some new wave Asian fusion food (so described by Cheryl, the hostess who told us we would have Fun and then proceeded to use the word FUN 9 more times – yes Chuck counted). The food was delicious, as too was the Kumquat Mohito that Chuck had to sample twice to confirm.


3 days in Boston, then back to New York for 5 more days.


FUN!