New Yorkers are such an interesting mix. I’ve never meet people that are quite so welcoming and friendly whilst being incredibly rude with the same breath. You can be talking to someone that will stop mid sentence, hurl abuse at someone and then pick up the chat exactly where they left off. I wouldn’t call them angry, but there is a vibe here. They call it the city that never sleeps, but it could also be called the city that doesn’t look before stepping out into the road. Watching pedestrians from a tour bus, I thought they were nuts. Being a pedestrian myself I then realised the drivers are just as, I not more nuts. I can’t help but admire them, that stubborn in your face attitude. They make it into an artform. I guess if I were taking my life into my hands every time I left my home, I’d be just as impatient as they are to get somewhere.

I do like the city itself. There are just so many variances throughout it, and that's just Manhattan.

Yesterday was a tourist day. I joined a tour bus and spent hours going through the city and around the harbour in a boat.

First stop was the former site of the World Trade Center. We could view the building works of the new tower that is being built on the site of ground zero from a balcony overlooking the site.

Our tour guide, a William H. Macy of Sahara vintage lookalike, was very passionate when explaining his personal emotions regarding the attacks. He explained how because communications were disrupted he was unable to contact his wife. For three days he didn’t know if she was dead or alive. Thankfully she was relatively unharmed, but you can still hear the fear in voice as he talks about it. But also the determination and resolution that New Yorkers now feel when it comes to threats against their country. Looking at the site today, it would just appear to be a normal building site, but it impossible not to see the effects that the attacks have had throughout the city. The Americans say - “never forget”. The increased security that is abundant at all locations and the proliferation of the term - ‘a post 9/11 society’ means that I don’t think they every could even if they wanted to.

Moving on we took a harbour tour. When we started the weather was miserable and it looked like it would rain at any second. I’ve been told that New York is expecting to be hit by a tropical storm either today or tomorrow. This looked like the first wave of poor weather. Amazingly the clouds dissipated an the sun appeared. We went along the coast of Manhattan Island, under the bridges and out to Liberty Island. By the time we reached the statue the weather was glorious and perfect for photographing the statue. The statue itself did not disappoint. Hearing the guide talk about that statue and its meaning after hearing of his emotions regarding 9/11 was particularly poignant.

We passed through the districts of Manhattan and then walked to the now pedestrianised Wall Street and to the New York Stock exchange. A building displaying the largest American flag I’ve ever seen. Capitalism - fuck yeah.

The tour was an excellent way to see the city. I saw much more of it then I would have if left to my own devices. I also now have far more facts and figures buried in my brain about building I’d never seen or heard of before then I will ever need in my lifetime.

One thing I should point out is that our tour guide, Jorge who spoke so passionately about New York and America and its desire to maintain freedom is not a native American. He is a naturalised citizen originally from Uruguay. He told me that he had hit rock bottom. His girlfriend had let, he had lost his job and so he left everything behind. He started in America as a pizza delivery boy. Vowing to improve himself, he studied the English language so that he could get a better job. As he told me, he now has a wife, children and a job he loves. In his own words he is “the living proof that America is still the land of opportunity”. Given my own purpose for this journey, it was an astonishingly interesting tale.

As was always going to happen I made my way to the Fifth Avenue Apple store. The cube is a very impressive structure and had people relaxing outside talking and eating hot-dogs. This was the first time I’d seen New York at a standstill. Inside it was back to the rough and tumble that is New York. I’m fairly sure that if all the shops removed the roped off queuing area that New York would descend into chaos and riots within the hour. Such is the inherent impatience for having to wait for anything whatsoever.

I then walked for hours along the streets, finding myself in Times Square listening to the people that celebrate New Years Eve every night. I then found myself at a Starbucks sat in the window watching the enjoyable madness that is this city unfold around me. I continued my wondering and was shocked to discover the Rockafella Center. I popped in and they told me that the observation deck was still open. even though it was gone 11pm. Going up there was stunning, truly stunning. You may have listened to the Audiboo I posted yesterday. Today I still stand by what I said. It truly was the most incredible sight. Given that today New York is covered with heavy rain, I got unbelievably lucky with last nights view.

Today I have taken it easy. Jetlag has caught up with me in a big way. Combined with poor sleep over the last weeks I just found myself dead on my feet. I paid a visit to the USS Intepid, an aircraft career that is now a floating museum. It also fulfilled two childhood dreams. First I saw the SR-71 Blackbird - the fastest jet ever flown, and I got to go on Concorde. In the flesh neither disappointed, but I felt rather claustrophobic on the Concorde.

I’ve an exceptionally early start tomorrow as I have to get the train to Washington. Given how tired I am, I will not go exploring further tonight. I’m going to find somewhere fairly close and have my first proper meal since arriving in America. My total food intake so far has consisted of a Chicken baguette, a tuna wrap and lots of water. I really don’t know what it is that makes me forget to eat when I’m away. But all I can say it that right now I am ravenous and it is time to sate my hunger.

My next update should be from Washington DC.

Until next time...

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Given that I'm in New York and having seen the Godfather so many times. It is slightly disconcerting to see this sight in the lobby.

I may be in the middle of a mob war!

Left me first preface this text by pointing out that it is 23:45 according to the clock, but my body is insisting that it is closer to 5AM. Fortuately, I am no stranger to what has been termed ‘Dawn Patrol’. Combined with being an insomniac it has actually worked out quite well.

My first impressions of New York are simply that I am drunk. My second impression is that the walls are completely taking the piss as they are making the sort of noise usually associated with a poorly tuned radio. the water pipes in this place simply appear to be fucked.

We landed pretty much on time. My flight was rather uneventful apart from my having the misfortune to be the only person in the entire cabin to be sat behind a person that reclined his seat to the maximum reclined position for the entire duration of the flight. This includes the times he was eating, Chatting to his next door neighbor or being forcefully told by the cabin crew to put the seat back to its upright position as the pilot would quite like to land. I really would have minded too much, but this guy also decided to jump around in his seat like a child that has only been fed blue Smarties for the last week. My little screen was careering around so much that it proved impossible to look at until this guy fell asleep - just the three hours into the flight. After that I watched the New Star Trek movie - surprisingly good - and Wolverine - entertainingly bad.

We landed pretty much bang on time. Customs was actually a piece of piss. I was about the 13th person through and I didn’t have a hard time at all. Even the customs agent was a cute woman. Listening to some of the other passengers whilst waiting for my luggage told me that I had been pretty unique in my experience. Call me old fashioned but I wonder just how much reading the form and filling it in to the letter and then being polite and erudite to the notoriously fickle customs agents had an effect on my treatment compared to others.

Unfortunately the smoothness ended there. I waited roughly 45 minutes for my bags to appear on the conveyer belt. Rather typically one me did put in an appearance, it got stuck on the ramp leading to the conveyer. Typical Blakely luck.

But that's in the past. I’m at the hotel. I’ve never stayed in a room that is so large but containing so little. It really makes me wonder about the American mentality. Seeing the vast waste of space that is my hotel room (easily twice the size of the Paddington Hilton and I considered that spacious), yet contains little more then a bed, a desk and a very old TV and and a bathroom that makes me think of the 1970’s. Then looking at the cars on the way here and the giant billboards lining the roads. My honest first impression of America is that size is everything, but content is nothing. I’m truly interested to see if this impression is taken away over the coming weeks, or simply reinforced.

For my first night, I decided to look for some food. Instead I got drunk. I found an Irish pub not too far from the hotel. The bartender had the sort of Irish accent not heard since Sean Bean tried his had at one in Patriot Games. Upon asking for my drink I was truly expecting to have my parentage questioned once hearing my accent. That never came to pass, and I simply settled myself at the bar and watched the baseball on the TV. An old woman came and sat next to me. She ordered a red wine, and had a racking cough. The other side of me where three gents drinking light beer. These I gather were the real New Yorkers. Every sentence contained at least two ‘fucks’. One memorable phrasing went roughly - ‘I mean the fucking girl is really fucking nice. I can see myself fucking marrying her fucking ass. But the fucking girl has this fucking thing about fucking books. She’s read this fucking shit that been made into a fucking movie and now she’s bought us tickets to see the fucking thing’. For the record the ‘fucking’ book is the Time Travellers Wife. I couldn’t resist recording them on the iPhone.

I made my move after that and ended up at another bar called Jakes Saloon.

I really enjoyed this place. I got chatting to the bartender, Frank. He gave me some tips on local beers, and of a place to check out in Washington. I also got chatting to another guy - a jewelry salesman. We three talked about baseball, and rather unusually breast cancer. His company had done a sales drive today donating 20% of their profits to Breast Cancer awareness. It seems a strange topic for pub talk, but obviously hit close to home for the bartender. He told us how his wife has discovered a lump and got it sorted. Now they are big supporters of efforts to raise awareness. As my body was now screaming out for sleep, I bid farewell, but said I would likely pop in for a nightcap tomorrow.

So an enjoyable first evening. I actually spoke to strangers and sat in a pub with no self consciousness. Is the start of a recovery, or is it the placebo effect of being way from Guernsey. I guess time will tell.

This morning (as we are now past midnight), I ‘ll be on a tour of the city and a harbour tour. This will take most of the day, but I should get a load of photos out of it.