today is my last full day in new york city. i saved all the uptown/5th avenue shopping for today, just to make sure i’d have room for it. i bought an extra bag yesterday and given that yarn squishes and i can check in two bags and carry on two, i am good. full, and possibly going to get hit with a heavy bag charge, but cheaper than posting things home.

i started today with the mandatory coffee at the local starbucks. let me just say i only go there because nothing in my street opens before 10am. stoopid hipsters. credit where its due though, they knew my name this morning.

i take that as a sign im either finally a local and should stay. or i go to that starbucks way too often! then it was on the subway and emerging at the dreaded times square.

i only went there because the levi’s store was there and Some People at home wanted jeans

and then there was a Gap right there, so i got seduced by all the cute baby clothes

and then across the road to sephora, where i tried on all the shiny

only three of these are for me i swear (guess which one’s yours donna)!

i had a list and got pretty much everything on it. yay! then i wandered up fifth avenue again

stopping to check out all the action at the rockefeller plaza

there was a spring garden easter bunny

with people still ice skating

and i thought about J.D. Rockefellers wise words (above my head)

and thought how the human race is obviously neither wise nor knowledgable yet. then it was dean and deluca for lunch

amazing roast beef sandwich and of course, purely for donna, another red velvet cupcakethis one had cream cheese frosting and the cake was super moist, better than magnolia. there you go, im calling it.

i headed further north after this and tossed up between prada (shoes)

and tiffany (jewellery).

tiffany won because what i wanted there was cheaper than the shoes (seriously) and easier to carry home. there is nothing on the first floor i can afford though, so i headed upstairs

and picked up a little silver thing

the little XO bracelet this time, part of the paloma picasso range. i like that im wearing something designed by her.

then it was FAO Schwartz and the obligatory teddy bear (three times ive been to NYC and everytime i bring someone home a bear), and i just stood and watched people fall over themselves to get into the apple store (good grief)

and thought about the way this city once represented everything wonderful about the new world, exemplified by hotels like the plaza, and how now its all about technology and brands, and it struck me as no surprise that rockefeller’s words remain a dream rather than a reality.

as an aside, he’s an interesting man, they have a fantastic foundation that funds all kinds of history research and is home to a huge archive based on the global health work they’ve done in the past. so you can put a lot of shit on american consumerism, and god knows its worth it, but they do philanthropy like no one else. at home, we just have mining magnates who inherited everything from daddy telling people to get off their arse, out of the pub and just work harder. i am low on patience right now for australians who whinge about life down under. people should come here and try and get a job and make ends meet. we are so incredibly lucky. we really need to get a bit of global perspective, get off the island a bit.

so im thinking all that while i watch these amazing guys do their break dancing routine

and i chuck $10 in their bucket, then i walk along central park south, where all the pretty horses are trained to put their feet up on the sidewalk

and there are carriages winding their way through the park

and theres a storm looming

so then it starts to rain, but all i can do is smile and think again how lucky i am to be here and what an amazing time i’ve had.

i was at columbus circle by now,

so i took the 1 train downtown. on the way home, there were more signs – a sign about dogs, and reminders of how much i miss mine

including an australian cattle dog sitting inside a little fiat in my street

like a typical cattle dog, it had no interest in me, and i thought about how when i get home, its time to think about getting another one of these, or some other kind of mongrel, because im going to need something furry to take the edge off.

another 24 hours, and im in the air. its hard to imagine being in that place i call ‘home’ again. my definition of that concept has shifted somewhat, to say the least.

kxx