It’s been some time since the Hawketc blog was last updated, disappointing many of our loyal fans. I have a new more portable, more blogworthy laptop, which I’ll keep with me throughout. It should make it easier to keep the blogs coming, assuming there is room enough in the pauses of adventure. There was some criticism last time our Exaggerated Adventures weren’t updated regularly enough. I will aim to maintain the high standards set by our previous blogs, but this time spread out over a greater number of blogs.
For the record, both Hawkins and myself defeated the New York Bar Exam, and are now certified as New York lawyers. Now we need to complete the next step in the New York law challenge, finding a job.
Hawkins has been in New York for some time now, under the pretence of looking for work, but to my knowledge, not to any great extent. For his earlier adventures leading up to his arrival in New York, check out http://hawkinsvslife.blogspot.com/.
I returned home in late February 2008 after working in a café in Whistler, British Columbia from November. The biggest reason for my return home was a financial one, but now I’ve scraped together enough to begin a whole new line of exaggerated adventures. I’ll be heading to New York soon enough, whereupon the Hawketc team will be reunited once again.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
The cruise – Bahamas
Put quite simply, cruises are fun. Very fun. We left Jacksonville on the M.S Celebration with high hopes and fanciful dreams of fun and adventure on the high seas.
The high seas turned out to be a little higher than we expected, and Dave instantly fell victim to sea sickness. While Dave took sea sickness tablets and slept, Corey and I soberly stumbled our way to the dining room. We met our servers, Kenneth and Raymund, as well as our Southern dining companions. Judging by their disapproving glances (we were drinking Foster’s from 750ml cans and wearing thongs and singlets), it seemed impossible to think that we would all be great friends by the end of the week.
The next week was spent drinking Foster’s and hanging out with our new found friends Jason, Andre, Ali and Shayna. We taught them as much as we could about Australian culture, and by the end of the week, they still couldn’t copy our accents.
We managed to sleep through a lot of our day at Key West, FL, but that was the ship’s fault for arriving at 7am; ridiculous. From our couple of hours on shore, it didn’t appear that we missed all that much.
Our day moored at Nassau, Bahamas was another matter entirely. The water was as clear as any I have ever seen before, and the day was packed with adventure. We hired some mopeds and proceeded to explore the island. This was when we found Cabbage Beach, or as I like to call it, ‘that awesome beach with the really nice water’. While leaving the beach, Unlucky Dave gave us a lesson in falling off a moped. So with some smiles, blood and anger, we all headed to the Atlantis resort.
Atlantis was impressive, as was its’ aquarium lobby. After some time and effort, we managed to get out of Atlantis and head towards the more touristy beach. Though more crowded, the water was just as nice as Cabbage Beach. More importantly, we hired jetskis. Jetskiing was amazingly good fun. I was a jetski ninja and enjoyed every minute of it.
Back on the cruise ship, we continued to eat and drink to excess. Most of the food was quite delicious, and there was heaps of variety. They had a $3/6 limit Hold’em table which I took advantage of to pay for a good deal of my drinks. I learned one of life’s important lessons; cruise ship passengers aren’t good at poker. Unfortunately, I also learned that limit Hold’em is pretty boring, so I didn’t really play all that much.
In summary, I can highly recommend the cruising lifestyle. It was a fun filled week and very cheap. Oh, there was also heaps of fun and adventure on the high seas.
The high seas turned out to be a little higher than we expected, and Dave instantly fell victim to sea sickness. While Dave took sea sickness tablets and slept, Corey and I soberly stumbled our way to the dining room. We met our servers, Kenneth and Raymund, as well as our Southern dining companions. Judging by their disapproving glances (we were drinking Foster’s from 750ml cans and wearing thongs and singlets), it seemed impossible to think that we would all be great friends by the end of the week.
The next week was spent drinking Foster’s and hanging out with our new found friends Jason, Andre, Ali and Shayna. We taught them as much as we could about Australian culture, and by the end of the week, they still couldn’t copy our accents.
We managed to sleep through a lot of our day at Key West, FL, but that was the ship’s fault for arriving at 7am; ridiculous. From our couple of hours on shore, it didn’t appear that we missed all that much.
Our day moored at Nassau, Bahamas was another matter entirely. The water was as clear as any I have ever seen before, and the day was packed with adventure. We hired some mopeds and proceeded to explore the island. This was when we found Cabbage Beach, or as I like to call it, ‘that awesome beach with the really nice water’. While leaving the beach, Unlucky Dave gave us a lesson in falling off a moped. So with some smiles, blood and anger, we all headed to the Atlantis resort.
Atlantis was impressive, as was its’ aquarium lobby. After some time and effort, we managed to get out of Atlantis and head towards the more touristy beach. Though more crowded, the water was just as nice as Cabbage Beach. More importantly, we hired jetskis. Jetskiing was amazingly good fun. I was a jetski ninja and enjoyed every minute of it.
Back on the cruise ship, we continued to eat and drink to excess. Most of the food was quite delicious, and there was heaps of variety. They had a $3/6 limit Hold’em table which I took advantage of to pay for a good deal of my drinks. I learned one of life’s important lessons; cruise ship passengers aren’t good at poker. Unfortunately, I also learned that limit Hold’em is pretty boring, so I didn’t really play all that much.
In summary, I can highly recommend the cruising lifestyle. It was a fun filled week and very cheap. Oh, there was also heaps of fun and adventure on the high seas.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Quick Quick Catch-Up
New Orleans, Louisiana
Hi to all our loyal fans, for if you're still checking this everyday for an update, being continually disappointed, but still checking, you are surely a loyal fan. I'm in an internet cafe in New Orleans at the moment, just off Bourbon Street. It's not an inexpensive cafe, so I'll keep this short. Hopefully I'll have the time to come back and fill in the gaps.
After we bought Bluely, our beige buick, in Portland, we took off to Philadelphia, home of the highest proportion of hot american chicks, american colonial history and the Philly Cheese Steak. In short, Philly Cheese Steaks are delicious, but better in New York.
From Philly - to Washington and the usual tourist stuff, White House, Lincoln Memorial, etc. From there to Raleigh, the capital of North Carolina to catch up with some friends of Angry Dave.
Washington to Gainesville, Florida. A big uni town and the home of my colleg football team, the Gators. I like college towns, cheap booze and a good night life.
Gainseville to Miami - which I'd describe as a city that was spewed up by Night at the Roxbury. The music, dress and club scene was exactly like the movie. It was a little too expensive for me ($12 a beer plus tip!) but lots of nicely dressed pretty people, lots of money and lots of topless chicks on the beach.
Miami to Orlando and home of some mouse. We went to Wet 'n' Wild water park, got really sunburnt and then went to Jacksonville.
Jacksonville I liked. An unassuming beach city, and nice nice people. From Jacksonville we went on what is easily the highlight of the trip - a cruise to Key West and the Bahamas. The cruise was awesome, and pretty cheap, except for alcohol. But we managed to smuggle some on board. Then we discovered that everyone else does exactly the same thing. The cruise consisted of sleeping, eating, drinking, eating, drinking, drinking, sleep. Nassau in the Bahamas is great, the nicest and clearest beaches I have seen, outside of Australia. I'm definitely going to have to go on a cruise again some other time. The other boys are in much agreement.
Back to Jacksonville after the cruise, dinner with some of the boys from the cruise - and then we were put into contact with a girl in Atlanta who is friends with another friend we made on the ship.
When we got to Atlanta, Angry Dave's wisdom tooth caused him great problems, and so he went off to hospital, while Hawkins and myself went to the Coke factory. It was surprisingly fun, and Angry Dave was then drugged up for the next few days.
From Atlanta, we went to New Orleans, and here I am now. Hopefully I'll fill in more details later, such as photos of the cruise and such, but for now, here is one of Bluely, of chariot of adventure on this great american roadtrip.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Buffalo to Boston
The problem with having so much adventure, is that it takes time to write down. This becomes more of a problem when you decide to leave your laptop in Maine, and from then on need to rely on internet cafes, which, unlike in Europe, are not all that common in the US. It also makes it harder to put up photos when you impulse stop to write up a blog, but hopefully I'll add some later.
Angry Dave and I arrived in Buffalo on what I think was a Tuesday night. Angry Dave had booked a hostel on Main Street and I had decided to just wing it and hope for the best. It worked for me in Europe, but unfortunately things are different in America. We were worried that we'd made a terrible mistake trying to find the hostel, as Main street was deserted. I'd never seen a more dying town. Even Garema Place in Canberra on a Sunday evening in winter has more action. After telling me that there was no room, the guy working in the hostel told me of some rooms he knew of above a pub a couple of blocks away. I left Angry Dave to check in, and I went over to check it out. It was the worse hotel I'd ever seen. Cats were roaming the corridors, and the man managing the pub told me he normally doesn't let it out for one night, it's normally for homeless people and druggies. I checked out what he said was the best room he had. As I went to unlock the door, it swung open, and I was greeted by a bare floor and a cupboard. There was no bed, and no lock on the door. I was done. I thanked the guy for his time and checked in at a cheap hotel a few more blocks away. Angry Dave and I went to where apparently the action happens in Buffalo on a Tuesday night. There wasn't much going on, except for one very awesome thing: $5 pitchers of beer. We'd been paying four times that much in New York City, here it was the same price as a pint but we got a whole pitcher. Needless to say, we got drunk. We also had Buffalo Wings - this was the town that invented them after all.
It didn't really matter about the bed, as I only got a few hours sleep in it. That night, while eating a late night slice of pizza with a co-hosteller, I met Moroccan royalty. He took us to some classy hotel lounges and got us some after hours drinks. He was pretty classy, and was known by all the hotel managers. He'd invited us to a party the following night, but we never made it, as we were too tired, and just played some lazy pool. I met back up with Angry Dave that day, and he crashed at the hostel too. We decided at that point that while the hostel scene is good, a hotel room for the same price is much better, and we'll just make friends the old fashion way - by getting drunk and talking in an aussie accent.
Buffalo, New York
21 August 2007
Angry Dave and I arrived in Buffalo on what I think was a Tuesday night. Angry Dave had booked a hostel on Main Street and I had decided to just wing it and hope for the best. It worked for me in Europe, but unfortunately things are different in America. We were worried that we'd made a terrible mistake trying to find the hostel, as Main street was deserted. I'd never seen a more dying town. Even Garema Place in Canberra on a Sunday evening in winter has more action. After telling me that there was no room, the guy working in the hostel told me of some rooms he knew of above a pub a couple of blocks away. I left Angry Dave to check in, and I went over to check it out. It was the worse hotel I'd ever seen. Cats were roaming the corridors, and the man managing the pub told me he normally doesn't let it out for one night, it's normally for homeless people and druggies. I checked out what he said was the best room he had. As I went to unlock the door, it swung open, and I was greeted by a bare floor and a cupboard. There was no bed, and no lock on the door. I was done. I thanked the guy for his time and checked in at a cheap hotel a few more blocks away. Angry Dave and I went to where apparently the action happens in Buffalo on a Tuesday night. There wasn't much going on, except for one very awesome thing: $5 pitchers of beer. We'd been paying four times that much in New York City, here it was the same price as a pint but we got a whole pitcher. Needless to say, we got drunk. We also had Buffalo Wings - this was the town that invented them after all. The next day we were hung over, but were resolved to visit Niagara Falls, only an hour bus ride away. It was definitely worth it. We jumped on the Maid of the Mist, a tug-boat which took people right into the middle of the falls. We got absolutely saturated, but were very refreshed. Niagara Falls were very impressive. Angry Dave and I then decided to walk to Canada for lunch. The Canadian side of the Falls was much better than the US side. It was like a mini-Atlantic City, but with Canadians. Angry Dave was very impressed with Canada, and happy with the new stamp in his passport.
Early the next morning, after I couldn't sleep, I decided to leave Angry Dave; he had booked a flight to Boston, and I walked down to the Bus Station. After checking the next bus departure time, I was on my way to Cleveland, Ohio.
Cleveland, Ohio
23 August 2007
Cleveland doesn't have any hostels, and so again I booked into a cheap motel. Cleveland was similar to Buffalo, it seems this whole area has a slowing economy, but it had one big advantage, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I checked it out, listened to some Hendrix and the Doors, and then ticked it off the list. It was time to get drunk in another town, this time by myself. I found a bar which was actually pretty good, with $2 beers and made some friends pretty quickly. Unfortunately, my thongs had been slowly breaking, and occasionally break when I walked, causing me to trip and then stop and fix them. This happened around 3am in the bar in front of the bouncer. He assumed I was hammered and kicked me out. Disaster. Oh well, time to go home.
I hired a rental car the next day, as I had to get to Boston in about 3 days time, and it was too expensive to fly. The Hertz rental woman was struck by my aussie accent and taste for adventure, and upgraded my car to a Mazda M6 - it was a nice ride. As an aside, I ended up returning the car late in Boston, and my aussie accent saved me again, this time the extra day rental charge.
I decided to drive to Rochester. I had no maps, and no idea what was there, except I'd heard it was a university town. I had a vague idea where it was, and figured I'd wing it, if worse came to worse, I'd sleep in the car. On the way, I wanted to check out Amish country. After stopping a couple of times for directions, I ended up having lunch at an Amish restaurant. I ordered an Amish 'favourite', Noodles on Mash Potato. It tasted exactly like it sounds, and moved on, a little disappointed. Most Amish it appears have embraced the 21st century, and drive around in big Ford Pick-Ups, parked in their garage next to their buggy. They still dress traditionally, and make the best pretzels in America.
Rochester, New York
24 August 2007
I arrived in Rochester about 9pm, with no real struggles, except having to have a nap on the side of the highway for about half an hour. I drove around the town looking for an area that looked like it had some bars. Eventually I found a likely place, parked the car somewhere that looked safe but would be quiet enough if I needed to sleep. I'd been in the car all day, and was in desperate need for a shower and a beer. Unfortunately the shower was going to have to wait.
Within 10 minutes of arriving at the bar and ordering another bargain priced pitcher, I was offered a place to crash by some locals. I'd also been roped into playing a game of 'cricket'. Cricket in the US is a darts game, which scores a little like bowling. It took me all night to work out the subtleties, and just aimed for what my teammate told me. I hadn't played darts for a few years, but I didn't let my country down. The guys I was playing darts with were having a clam bake the next day, and I scored myself an invite. I also managed to get another offer of a place to crash - it was only a couch, but much better than sleeping in the backseat of the rental car.
The next day I made my way out to the suburbs of Rochester. The area is quite nice, big houses in quiet neighbourhoods. A clam bake is the Maine version of a barbie, but with clams and beer pong. Beer pong is massive over here, and I think I'm an addict. The Americans need to harden up though, and put more than just a couple of sips into each cup.
I had planned to drive to Boston that night, but the clam bake was good fun, and I was told that I was more than welcome to crash. I took them up on their offer, planning to set off at 5am to get to Boston in time to return the car. I woke at 8 - I hadn't had much sleep the last few days, and returned the car about 4 hours late. But as we know, it ended happily.
Boston, Massachusetts
26 August 2007
After I'd had my luck with returning the car, I was looking forward to Boston. It seemed my run of luck had turned good. How wrong I was. I arrived in Downtown Boston and spent the next two hours walking around from hostel to hostel trying to find a spare bed. Eventually I ended up just out of downtown at a place that used to be a hostel. They put me onto another place, and for the price of a hotel room, I had a shit bed in a crowded hostel.
It didn't really matter about the bed, as I only got a few hours sleep in it. That night, while eating a late night slice of pizza with a co-hosteller, I met Moroccan royalty. He took us to some classy hotel lounges and got us some after hours drinks. He was pretty classy, and was known by all the hotel managers. He'd invited us to a party the following night, but we never made it, as we were too tired, and just played some lazy pool. I met back up with Angry Dave that day, and he crashed at the hostel too. We decided at that point that while the hostel scene is good, a hotel room for the same price is much better, and we'll just make friends the old fashion way - by getting drunk and talking in an aussie accent. Boston as a city was quite nice. Very similar architecture to Brooklyn in the nice suburbs, but dripping with American history and Irish bars in downtown. But two days was enough. We went to the famous Cheers bar, got bad service and expensive beers. Boston - tick. It was time to go to Portland, Maine to meet back up with Hawkins and buy a car.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Hawkins buys $7 cargo shorts!
Team Hawketc buys a car.
After 2 days of often frustrating car shoppingin Portland, ME, the team (Hawkins, Corey, Angry Dave) managed to buy a car; let the road trip begin!
We had dreams of a soft-top Jeep Wrangler. Our dreams did not come true. We will be driving across the country in a triple-beige Buick Century. I think the average age of Buick Century drivers is about 75. We've dubbed the car "Bluey". Photos to follow.
After 2 days of often frustrating car shoppingin Portland, ME, the team (Hawkins, Corey, Angry Dave) managed to buy a car; let the road trip begin!
We had dreams of a soft-top Jeep Wrangler. Our dreams did not come true. We will be driving across the country in a triple-beige Buick Century. I think the average age of Buick Century drivers is about 75. We've dubbed the car "Bluey". Photos to follow.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
The AC - Part 2
Hawkins and Corey drink $7 cans of Corona all afternoon.
Hawkins plays poker in singlet, plays well but without luck, and is called "trailer trash" at one point. Hawkins plays a second tournament, comes 5th and breaks even for the night. Tries to find Corey. Corey is uncontactably intoxicated.
Corey runs shirtless down the boardwalk, and is turned down by numerous food vendors. Corey is finally given pizza and gatorade; he cannot hide his excitement.
Filthy room has no bathroom, but does have wash basin. Corey falls face first on floor. Begs for help. Corey is angered when Hawkins helps him up; he wanted to stay there. Hawkins drifts off to sleep. Hawkins wakes to Corey smashing plastic cup against wall. Hawkins drifts off to sleep. Hawkins wakes to Corey vomiting in basin.
Hawkins and Corey wake, and take short swim at the beach. There are old people everywhere. There are always old people everywhere in the AC. Hawkins loses money playing poker. Hawkins quits poker forever. Hawkins and Corey spend afternoon drinking. Hawkins and Corey spend evening drinking. Corey offends waitress. Waitress forgives Corey. Milosovic jokes - too soon.
Corey and Hawkins return to filthy hotel room. Corey and Hawkins vow to wake at 6:30am and leave the AC on the first bus.
Hawkins and Corey catch first bus out of AC.
The End.
Hawkins plays poker in singlet, plays well but without luck, and is called "trailer trash" at one point. Hawkins plays a second tournament, comes 5th and breaks even for the night. Tries to find Corey. Corey is uncontactably intoxicated.
Corey runs shirtless down the boardwalk, and is turned down by numerous food vendors. Corey is finally given pizza and gatorade; he cannot hide his excitement.
Filthy room has no bathroom, but does have wash basin. Corey falls face first on floor. Begs for help. Corey is angered when Hawkins helps him up; he wanted to stay there. Hawkins drifts off to sleep. Hawkins wakes to Corey smashing plastic cup against wall. Hawkins drifts off to sleep. Hawkins wakes to Corey vomiting in basin.
Hawkins and Corey wake, and take short swim at the beach. There are old people everywhere. There are always old people everywhere in the AC. Hawkins loses money playing poker. Hawkins quits poker forever. Hawkins and Corey spend afternoon drinking. Hawkins and Corey spend evening drinking. Corey offends waitress. Waitress forgives Corey. Milosovic jokes - too soon.
Corey and Hawkins return to filthy hotel room. Corey and Hawkins vow to wake at 6:30am and leave the AC on the first bus.
Hawkins and Corey catch first bus out of AC.
The End.
Friday, August 24, 2007
The Road Trip begins
Upstate New York
For the past few weeks, the members of the Hawketc Team had been living in spacious comfort in the family-friendly suburb of Park Slope, Brooklyn. The weather has been kind to us during our time here, and as Angry Dave and myself readied to leave for the last time what had been our home away from home, we expected today to be no different from any other.
Awkwardly balancing backpacks and our daypacks, we stepped outside into what we later realized was a result of New York being on the outer fringes of a hurricane which had been bashing the Caribbean for the past few days. Within seconds we were saturated through, with another ten blocks to walk to the subway. Walking in the rain is fun enough by itself, but when it’s windy, you’re carrying all your possessions on your back, and you cleverly chose to wear shorts and thongs, it makes the experience all the more special.
I collapsed into a seat between two typically thin Americans on the F train, and sat back expecting to get some rest in before we got off at Penn Station to catch the train to Buffalo, which is up near Niagara Falls. Amazingly, we were right on schedule, and were going to make it to Penn Station in plenty of time to get out tickets, buy and snack and get a good seat for the eight hour train ride to Upstate New York. And that’s when the subway train we were on stopped.
It turned out that the train ahead had some minor break problems. I turned to Angry Dave, who had replaced one of the Americans at the last stop in the seat beside me, and questioned whether there was ever such a thing as a ‘minor break problem’. That was when a Subway official came into our carriage and said that we’re better off getting off the train and catching another.
We arrived at Penn Station half an hour late, with little idea of where to head. Of course, the first person I ask for directions was from Sydney, and was looking for the station himself. We actually didn’t end up wasting much time, and found it pretty quickly. As we hurried to our platform, Angry Dave was true to form, and wondered why I was walking so slow. Unfortunately, thongs, slippery sidewalks and wet weather don’t go together so well. With only the occasional controlled slide, we jumped on the train, the last people to get on.
And so now, with Angry Dave gently snoring next to me, I’m writing the latest installment of Hawketc. Angry Dave, frustrated with the leisurely posting-style of the Hawketc Team, has started his own blog, after promises to let him post a guest blog failed to be fulfilled. We’ll put a link somewhere on our site, it seems only fair.
Now being on the, the regularity of new blog postings to Hawketc may be affected somewhat. I’ll try to update where we’re at along the way.
Angry Dave and Corey are outsmarted by the UN
In the past week, I’ve been seeing the sights of New York that I haven’t got around to seeing in the past few weeks I’ve been here. Top on the list includes the Empire State Building, which wasn’t too bad, except that I was in the grip of a terrible cold, and the batteries on my camera were mysteriously flat after having let Hawkins use it the day before. Angry Dave and I also checked out a few other famous sites, Central Park, the New York Public Library and the headquarters of the United Nations.
I was confident after going through security at the UN that checking the place out was going to be a breeze. The line had been short, and the checks well organized (unlike the Statute of Liberty, for example). I should have known better. The only way to see the inside of the UN was in a tour, which I wasn’t really interested in, and of course the line to buy tickets for the tour was huge. Angry Dave and I had been waiting in the line for about 15 minutes when we heard an announcement from the ticket desk, “last call for the Japanese Tour”. There was no line for that. With no hesitation from myself, and some from Angry Dave, we had our Japanese tour tickets in hand, and were waiting at the UN tour entrance. It was then I realized that another non-Japanese tour was waiting at the same place, and we lined up in that tour instead. By now the Japanese tour had left, and it was looking like our plan was even more brilliant than I’d first hoped. But the UN is cleverer than that, and we were caught out as we tried to get in. We feigned ignorance, and the Japanese tour was called back for us to join on the back of. Despite not understanding anything said, the tour wasn’t too bad. Our tour guide spoke better English than Japanese, and during photo breaks, answered any questions Angry Dave and I had. As we finished the hour long tour, another group was just starting. I recognized a number of people in the new tour who had been standing in the line in front of us, and I regretted nothing.
One last thing…
You may have noticed that Hawkins didn’t make much of an appearance in the latest adventures. He did most of the New York tourist stuff when he was here this time last year. Hawkins has also decided to head to Miami, rather than coming to Buffalo, New York. We’ll all be joining back up, most likely, in a weeks time in Maine, where we’ll organize a car for the next step of the Exaggerated Adventures of Hawkins and Corey.
For the past few weeks, the members of the Hawketc Team had been living in spacious comfort in the family-friendly suburb of Park Slope, Brooklyn. The weather has been kind to us during our time here, and as Angry Dave and myself readied to leave for the last time what had been our home away from home, we expected today to be no different from any other.Awkwardly balancing backpacks and our daypacks, we stepped outside into what we later realized was a result of New York being on the outer fringes of a hurricane which had been bashing the Caribbean for the past few days. Within seconds we were saturated through, with another ten blocks to walk to the subway. Walking in the rain is fun enough by itself, but when it’s windy, you’re carrying all your possessions on your back, and you cleverly chose to wear shorts and thongs, it makes the experience all the more special.
I collapsed into a seat between two typically thin Americans on the F train, and sat back expecting to get some rest in before we got off at Penn Station to catch the train to Buffalo, which is up near Niagara Falls. Amazingly, we were right on schedule, and were going to make it to Penn Station in plenty of time to get out tickets, buy and snack and get a good seat for the eight hour train ride to Upstate New York. And that’s when the subway train we were on stopped.
It turned out that the train ahead had some minor break problems. I turned to Angry Dave, who had replaced one of the Americans at the last stop in the seat beside me, and questioned whether there was ever such a thing as a ‘minor break problem’. That was when a Subway official came into our carriage and said that we’re better off getting off the train and catching another.
We arrived at Penn Station half an hour late, with little idea of where to head. Of course, the first person I ask for directions was from Sydney, and was looking for the station himself. We actually didn’t end up wasting much time, and found it pretty quickly. As we hurried to our platform, Angry Dave was true to form, and wondered why I was walking so slow. Unfortunately, thongs, slippery sidewalks and wet weather don’t go together so well. With only the occasional controlled slide, we jumped on the train, the last people to get on.
And so now, with Angry Dave gently snoring next to me, I’m writing the latest installment of Hawketc. Angry Dave, frustrated with the leisurely posting-style of the Hawketc Team, has started his own blog, after promises to let him post a guest blog failed to be fulfilled. We’ll put a link somewhere on our site, it seems only fair.
Now being on the, the regularity of new blog postings to Hawketc may be affected somewhat. I’ll try to update where we’re at along the way.
Angry Dave and Corey are outsmarted by the UN
In the past week, I’ve been seeing the sights of New York that I haven’t got around to seeing in the past few weeks I’ve been here. Top on the list includes the Empire State Building, which wasn’t too bad, except that I was in the grip of a terrible cold, and the batteries on my camera were mysteriously flat after having let Hawkins use it the day before. Angry Dave and I also checked out a few other famous sites, Central Park, the New York Public Library and the headquarters of the United Nations.I was confident after going through security at the UN that checking the place out was going to be a breeze. The line had been short, and the checks well organized (unlike the Statute of Liberty, for example). I should have known better. The only way to see the inside of the UN was in a tour, which I wasn’t really interested in, and of course the line to buy tickets for the tour was huge. Angry Dave and I had been waiting in the line for about 15 minutes when we heard an announcement from the ticket desk, “last call for the Japanese Tour”. There was no line for that. With no hesitation from myself, and some from Angry Dave, we had our Japanese tour tickets in hand, and were waiting at the UN tour entrance. It was then I realized that another non-Japanese tour was waiting at the same place, and we lined up in that tour instead. By now the Japanese tour had left, and it was looking like our plan was even more brilliant than I’d first hoped. But the UN is cleverer than that, and we were caught out as we tried to get in. We feigned ignorance, and the Japanese tour was called back for us to join on the back of. Despite not understanding anything said, the tour wasn’t too bad. Our tour guide spoke better English than Japanese, and during photo breaks, answered any questions Angry Dave and I had. As we finished the hour long tour, another group was just starting. I recognized a number of people in the new tour who had been standing in the line in front of us, and I regretted nothing.
One last thing…
You may have noticed that Hawkins didn’t make much of an appearance in the latest adventures. He did most of the New York tourist stuff when he was here this time last year. Hawkins has also decided to head to Miami, rather than coming to Buffalo, New York. We’ll all be joining back up, most likely, in a weeks time in Maine, where we’ll organize a car for the next step of the Exaggerated Adventures of Hawkins and Corey.
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