New York State of Mind 01/05: Sunrise to Sunset
I was still waking up at jetlag o' clock, which suited my host's insomniac hours. Frieda made scrambled eggs for a very James Bond breakfast. Like Bond, I observed that Americans put milk in and that this is WEIRD.
We drove to Saratoga Springs, a town famous for mineral water and horse racing, and also featured in Diamonds Are Forever, the novel. I tried some of the mineral water drinking-fountains in the park - the basins were stained with iron and copper and the water tasted vile - before we met Frieda's friend Sue for coffee. I had a molasses cookie with mine, dark brown and topped with crunchy sugar. Then the three of us set off to experience a mineral bath.
Between the wars, bathhouses sprang up at the springs to bring health and cleanliness to the people. We were visiting the Roosevelt Baths, where we changed into towelling robes and hung out in a calming waiting-room before our appointment time.
Bond watches a jockey having a mud bath to reduce his weight. Thankfully that's not on offer any more and we each had the standard mineral bath. The cubicles were original, and looked more institutional than luxurious, but the brownish water felt nice and was buoyant enough to let you float. I enjoyed my 40 minutes' wallow, although I rather wished I'd brought a book. And turned off the relaxing music.
In the afternoon, Frieda was booked to give a talk on Fleming, Bond and the local area at a home for senior citizens. I thought I was just going to watch, but found myself pressed into service as chief PowerPoint clickerer.
The talk was preceded by a committee meeting, which was all about could we please purchase a new shuffleboard and how many meals to go you are allowed to order from the dining-room. After all this excitement, the residents were very attentive to the talk and asked questions, some of which came my way.
We spent some time enjoying Saratoga's lovely but expensive gift shops before meeting friends for dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant, where I couldn't resist a cocktail called the Italian Grey Hound, and amused my companions by ordering 'the octopus - just the small one' (it was incredibly tasty, charred at the tips and cooked with chilli and honey).
The evening supplied us with a beautiful sky, and we went home the long way, stopping for photographs in the rich people's neighbourhood (keeping the engine running in case we got shouted at), at the closed ski slope (where we saw red-winged blackbirds and heard the little frogs called peepers, so now I'll understand that when I read it in books), up an old horse trail to a lumberyard smelling of timber, and finally to the river. Here, as cars traversed the bridge and an illuminated peace sign shone from a house on the opposite bank, the line of light on the horizon finally gave way to dark.
We drove to Saratoga Springs, a town famous for mineral water and horse racing, and also featured in Diamonds Are Forever, the novel. I tried some of the mineral water drinking-fountains in the park - the basins were stained with iron and copper and the water tasted vile - before we met Frieda's friend Sue for coffee. I had a molasses cookie with mine, dark brown and topped with crunchy sugar. Then the three of us set off to experience a mineral bath.
Between the wars, bathhouses sprang up at the springs to bring health and cleanliness to the people. We were visiting the Roosevelt Baths, where we changed into towelling robes and hung out in a calming waiting-room before our appointment time.
Bond watches a jockey having a mud bath to reduce his weight. Thankfully that's not on offer any more and we each had the standard mineral bath. The cubicles were original, and looked more institutional than luxurious, but the brownish water felt nice and was buoyant enough to let you float. I enjoyed my 40 minutes' wallow, although I rather wished I'd brought a book. And turned off the relaxing music.
In the afternoon, Frieda was booked to give a talk on Fleming, Bond and the local area at a home for senior citizens. I thought I was just going to watch, but found myself pressed into service as chief PowerPoint clickerer.
The talk was preceded by a committee meeting, which was all about could we please purchase a new shuffleboard and how many meals to go you are allowed to order from the dining-room. After all this excitement, the residents were very attentive to the talk and asked questions, some of which came my way.
We spent some time enjoying Saratoga's lovely but expensive gift shops before meeting friends for dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant, where I couldn't resist a cocktail called the Italian Grey Hound, and amused my companions by ordering 'the octopus - just the small one' (it was incredibly tasty, charred at the tips and cooked with chilli and honey).
The evening supplied us with a beautiful sky, and we went home the long way, stopping for photographs in the rich people's neighbourhood (keeping the engine running in case we got shouted at), at the closed ski slope (where we saw red-winged blackbirds and heard the little frogs called peepers, so now I'll understand that when I read it in books), up an old horse trail to a lumberyard smelling of timber, and finally to the river. Here, as cars traversed the bridge and an illuminated peace sign shone from a house on the opposite bank, the line of light on the horizon finally gave way to dark.
