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The Gumball Diary (New York City)22nd April 1120GMT (47,000 feet above the Atlantic doing Mach 1.92)Sitting in the Concorde Room at Terminal 4 at Heathrow with a raging hangover wasn't quite what I had in mind for the start of today - but I will say that they do a killer bacon baguette which clears the effects rather nicely. There's one chap to blame for this who will remain nameless (he knows who he is) and I'm certain he's taken great delight in it! Bags were rechecked this morning to make sure than during my fueled and Port (no, not together!) fueled packing frenzy last night I hadn't forgotten anything. The front to the car stereo and the in-car power adaptor for the laptop were duely added, but everything else was fine. Driver picks me up, and takes me to the airport - all well and good. No problems at the airport (good show BA), and a few additions to the travelling collection - copies of the Moulin Rouge soundtrack and the new Pet Shop Boys album, and Mario Kart Super Circuit for my GBA. Well....brunch is about to be served - so more later on. 23 April 1815 (Royalton Hotel NY)Having just returned from a fairly successful shopping trip I'm sitting here, listening to the Moulin Rouge soundtrack, trying work out how it'll all fit together. I've now acquired the following for the car:
to go with our existing in-car setup comprising:
The one thing that I couldn't find was a prepaid cellular phone that will connect to the Thinkpad. This seems a little odd - can't see it being too much to ask...... I've just spoken with our US shipping contact about when the cars will be arriving - looks as though the boat was a little delayed due to bad weather, but will be docking tonight. Apparently the cars will be available for collection either late on Tuesday, or first thing on Wednesday morning (subject to customs clearance!). 23rd April 1410 (Royalton Hotel NY)Have just returned to the hotel on the rumour that our cars may have been cleared through customs and are ready for us to collect. Waiting for a call from the owners of Car127 who're currenty enroute to the facility with fingers crossed. Not a great deal going on so far today, apart from another failed shopping trip, and some recovery from drinks last night in the Plaza. Tonight at the Plaza should be interesting though - looks as though quite a few people are coming into town today with their cars. We never did manage to find out whether there was any truth in the rumour that two red Ferrari 360s were racing down 5th avenue yesterday afternoon....I get the feeling that neither the Plaza, nor the Manhattan traffic, have any idea about what is going to happen over the next 24 hours *grin*!! 23 April 1430 (in the back of a taxi heading into New Jersey)It looks as though the rumors were true - the call came in and confirmed that the cars were ready - apparently our little turbo was being unloaded at that very moment. Took me several goes, but I finally managed to convince a taxi to take me out to Kerney in New Jersey, the depot where the cars were being unloaded. 23 April 1815 (Royalton Hotel NY)Marvelous! The car has made it over to the US in one piece, and is now sitting in the Plaza hotel car park (in some incredible company), despite our first run-in with New York's finest... Finally managed to direct the taxi driver to the shipping company, despite his inabilty to leave the New Jersey turnpike at the correct junction (twice...). The crew at the shipping company were all really excited about what was going on - several of the guys had come in on their day off to see all of the cars being unloaded. The journey back into Manhattan was made possible by Car127's Sat Nav - all I had to do was follow....which is where the problems started. We got into Manhattan fine, but decided to turn left (apparently following the directions of the sat nav) and be promptly waved down by a member of NYPD who subsequently explained the precise meaning of "No Left Turn", but decided against ticketing us when the story was recanted, a quick review of our documents (and several photographs) later, we were on our way to the Plaza. There were several interesting cars in the Plaza car park, including a Lambo, a couple of Ferraris, a Viper, and a Texan 911 Turbo, most will possibly be in tomorrow though as the news filters out that the cars are ready to roll. 24 April 1310 (Plaza Hotel NY)Everything is really starting to take off now - last night there was a fairly large contingent in the Plaza bar, always very easy to spot - they're the folk who really don't look like they're supposed to be there! Some great folk around though, a girl who's got an XBox installed in her Mini, the infamous Joe Macari and his fleet of Ferraris, and a great pair of guys from Texas. My ddigital camera packed up last night, so I've just been out and replaced it (out with the HP 318 and in with the Sony P5) cool new feature lets me shot video as well - will try and get some on the site as soon as I figure out how to male it work. In addition to the camera I picked up a case of Red Bull which hopefully should keep us awake for the trip. About to take a trip down into the Plaza car park to see what's turned up since yesterday, get all of our toys installed in the car, and test out the new camera. |