New York New York

Its 6.00am in the big apple, and I am sitting at jfk awaiting my
return flight to the uk. It has been a brilliant trip. Arriving
Thursday, and departing today, Tuesday.

We have been so lucky with the weather. We had none of the snow or
blizzard that were a distinct possibility. We took loads of thermal
layers with us, and havent had to wear them all. In fact, I only had
to wear the stupid hat yesterday!! Instead we have had blue skies and
bright sunshine, albeit with a biting wind at times.

There were 24 of us for a meal on Saturday evening. This included two
friends who live in new york (a childhood friend and his partner), two
friends who live in phoenix (an old school friend and her husband), my
sister and her husband (who live in massacheusetts: I can never spell
it properly!!), and the rest were school friends and their kids (some
kids older than others)!

My sister was a surprise. Yes, a couple of clues had not escaped my
attention, so I kept an open mind as to whether she would turn up.
Brilliant. A few of my friends were in on it too!! Apparently, there
was a lot of subtefuge too, involving my stepson who was the conduit
for all communication with rob whose email is not sacrosanct as I have
access to it, both at work and home (his choice)!

So, now we are resting our weary feet (we have walked and walked),
waiting for our flight which is due to depart in an hour or so.

Sadly, it will be a while before we see our friends again as we live
quite a way away, even from those in the uk!! We are however so lucky
to have a great crowd of close friends.

Well, there seems to be more activity, and I must close.

Thanks to all friends and family for a great trip to the big apple.

Gill Butchard
0772 591 1320
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