Independent Firsts

Krissa and I didn't go to Washington DC in the end. We met up with a few of her old Kenyan schoolmates on Friday night and had a great time. In the end it came down to considering the drive down on Sunday evening followed shortly after by the drive back on Monday evening. If we had wanted to get back to New York in enough time for even some sleep to happen, we would have had to leave before the bulk of the festivities, washing me up on the barren shore of a Tuesday morning desk well travelled but exhausted.

With the new job only just in the bag, and me with ropes still to learn, we decided it wasn't worth it.

In the event we had an amazing weekend anyway. On Saturday we took advantage of borrowing the car from Krissa's parents and adventured upstate a little, driving through Sleepy Hollow, watching the boats come in off the river at Tarrytown, spying deer on the outskirts of Ossining and gawking at New Croton Dam. We finished the day with an outstanding and strangely incongruous restaurant. This little place reminded me of a cross between a wheelless railway carriage and a Nissen Hut, but it had warm candlelight flowing out of its windows into the darkening night, echoing the fireflies who hovered outside.

(FIREFLIES! Flies...which light up! That's so COOL. I've never seen them before.)

There were oysters and swordfish and supreme steak on the menu, and we treated ourselves before heading back into the city.

And Sunday we played tennis, hung about and went to see Batman Begins with friends at the Lincoln Center IMAX.
I'd never seen a film on IMAX before, and Krissa, who dispatched herself to buy the tickets and then kept this little detail to herself, said, "Oh, yes, it's IMAX" just as, with perfect theatrical timing, I rounded a corner and saw the screen.
This is New York, ladies and gentlemen. After a gentle evening's burger and enjoyable conversation at a river restaurant, our friends and I chose to go to the movies. At 11pm. On a Sunday.
The cinema was so full that we had to sit in the front row.
The screen, let me remind those of you who knew, and inform those who don't, is the height of three double-decker buses. I had to physically move my head to see details at the side of the screen.
The film was...great. But the fight scenes were totally lost on us, an epic blurring flurry of limbs and shadows which only resolved themselves as the victor obligingly squared up in silhouette clearly enough to be identified.

On Monday we went to Kate and Stan's housewarming/July 4th barbecue, and then went onwards to Jeb and Neela's for fireworks and awe.
Awe.
The fireworks were the most expansive, most jaw-dropping, and most delectable visual spectacle I have ever seen. Probably one of the most expensive, too.
From our rooftop vantage point we could see all three sets of simultaneous and identical sets of fireworks across the city, and the East River set were reflected in the mirror-like surfaces of the skyscrapers of Manhattan.

I have no idea how I managed to forget to blog this for so long...but as I choose the title 'Independent Firsts', I've remembered something.
My little sister Jemma has finished university, and is graduating with a First Class Honours degree in Psychology from Portsmouth University.
Out of all of these firsts, hers is the most impressive.

It even beats the fireworks by miles.