6 inches that make ALL the difference.

So I’ve just landed into Hong Kong. And I’m at The Wing, the Cathay Pacific First Class lounge. You are NOT going to believe where I am writing this very post… here:

 

Yes in  a BATH TUB. Can you sodding well believe it? I thought Terminal 5 rocked, but here thanks to those smart people at Cathay Pacific, you get a ‘cabana’ with bath, seperate shower, lounging area (with pebble filled lake/water features) sinks, potions and unctions and even Earl Grey served in your room.

 

I’m a little bit over fucking impressed to be honest. 

 

So how was the flight I hear you ask? It was long. 5 hours to Vancouver, one hour on the ground and then 13 hours to Hong Kong.  But I’ve discovered something about their business class seating. On the upper deck you get an extra 6 inches! It’s true – it’s like  booking a queen and getting a king (hospitality wise).

 

So now I”m going to soak, shave, prepare. Put on my new Ralph Lauren Polo shirt (in Racing Green) and then kick back before the last leg to Bali.

 

Sweet joy!

The Summer Club

 

I’m writing this sitting at a small wooden desk surrounded by faded paperbacks, baseball gloves, various knick-knacks in a open ceilinged beach house finished in aged cedar. I can see the first deck out the doors, which are open with screens drawn and the grill on the deck in particular which is shortly to be fired up for dinner.

The second deck, behind me is almost completely private and looks to the dunes, in front of which the Atlantic ocean slaps the beach with a soporific rhythmic thump. Tony Bennett is singing a duet with Barbra Streisand on iTunes and all is peaceful.

We just got back from the ocean and the wave based horseplay that always ensues and have taken my first outdoor shower in the garden to wash the crisp seawater from me.  And I sit here writing this feeling the warm glow over my body, the result of getting up at nine this morning to sun bathe and read, followed by the most amazing Bloody Mary at The Hideaway in Ocean Beach.

You can probably sense that I’m in a good place right this second, both emotional and geographically. Taking this house in Summer Club (a small village of precisely 2 streets, yet complete with Club House, tennis courts and an association that approves your application) was a wonderful thing to do – even if we were cautious about the time and money. It’s worth every cent.

I’m most excited about friends coming to stay, from both here in New York but also England. We have friends arriving in September and October and I simply can’t wait to sit here in a months time with them and do almost the same thing; except this time I’ll try to be more polite and not write whilst they recline on the sofa.

No jokes, no gags, just pure happiness.

Is there anything left to buy?

So Marie and Julian are here. That’s Ben’s Sister and her husband. And they’re a big part of my family. It’s Julian’s first visit to New York and I have to say his wit is really refreshing; as is his addiction to shirt buying. In effect we are both shirt-lifters – albeit in different areas… as it were.

Marie looks amazing – she really has lost a lot of weight (not that it was at all necessary)  and she radiates in her brand spanking new Uniqlo adjusted-for-free jeans. Ben, meanwhile adjusted the fragrance shelf once more with more Tom Ford. It smells good on him, you’d think given that he’s told me countless times he’d drop me in a heatbeat for Mr. Ford I’d be against it – but I’m not.

And me? Well I’ve got into pants. That’s American for trousers.

With having lost nearly 24 pounds in the past 3 months (don’t ask me how – I just ate less) I was overjoyed to find trousers in The Gap of all places, that fitted and looked quite nice… Clearly my recent adult life has been based in the small cul-de-sac’d town of ‘Low-Self Esteem’, twinned with ‘does my head look big in this?’… so to enjoy being in a changing room was quite some moment.

So we’ve actually been ’shopping’ for 7 hours. 7 hours. Can you Adam and Eve it? And you know what? It was FUN. A lot of fun. That’s me saying I enjoyed shopping. As Shaun would say ‘well shit in your hat and punch it’.

Anyhoo. We’re back home now. I’m sipping beer and and we’re preparing for a last-night dinner at BoBo – in the West Village, it’s tres tres

More later.