Missed connections

Last week, I took a trip down to Coney Island, which is at the southern point of Brooklyn. It is the Russian area, and there are apparently some brilliantly soviet cafes littered around the place, so I shall have to go back to explore those properly. The reason for my visit was to see the New York Aquarium which is positioned right near the beach front, which I suppose makes sense. The Aquarium is quite small, and not exactly super high-tech, but it did have some MASSIVE walruses (walrus? walrii?) and some very hypnotic jellyfish tanks.

In the evening, I went to see Scott Pilgrim vs the World, which was, ummmm, *ok* (I realise I am basically going against everyone else in the universe when I say that). On exiting the cinema, I was dismayed to find that it was absolutely chucking it down with rain, so I sheltered under the awning for a few minutes to see if it would ease off. A very charming man started talking to me and then kindly gave me a spare umbrella he happened to have in his bag. How very gentlemanly. It has been pointed out to me that I really should have offered to buy him a coffee in return, and yes I realise that now. I am kicking myself a little bit that I didn't say anything, but if I have learned anything from romcoms, it is that our paths will cross again someday.

They're not going to, are they? Damn.

Other notable events since the last post include doing a voluntary stint at Visions, which is a community of blind people. We were helping with arts and crafts, and I met some really funny ladies, including one who started 'watching' Meerkat Manor as it had been advertised as being more dramatic than The Sopranos, and it took her several episodes to realise it wasn't humans interacting on the screen. She was the same woman who had decided there were no black people in England. I'm not sure where she got that idea from, but I soon set her straight.

I visited the Cooper-Hewitt Museum near Central Park, which is part of the Smithsonian collection of museums, this one focusing on Design. It was very interesting, and highly recommended for a visit. I went to the Brooklyn Flea, which is held every Sunday in Downtown Brooklyn - there were lots of vintage-y stalls for clothes and jewellery, so I shall definitely go back there should I decide I want to spend some money. I spent a morning in a branch of the Brooklyn Library, helping to alphabetise the children's books and marvelling at my fellow volunteers and their grasp of the alphabet. I finally had a Shake Shack burger, which was amazing, though I chickened out of getting their double Shack burger as it seemed a little excessive for lunch. And I finally met the mini-Duncan Bannatyne when I went round for a lovely dinner with my sister's friend Jenny and her husband Stef at their amazing apartment in DUMBO.