Goodbye Yankee Stadium

When Sunday arrived, it was time to get Mum and Dad B ready for the trip home again. As we mentioned last week, the plan was to have breakfast at Rose's Berry Farm. However, the heavens remained open so we had to settle for plan B. This was a trip to Ken's Corner. It's a breakfast joint we've used a few times and it does great omlettes and breakfast sandwiches. So although it wasn't Rose's, I think the parents were satisfied.

We set off straight from there to New York (again! ) to do some final sightseeing. The weather in the Big Apple was clear blue skies and sun, so much better than we'd left in CT.

We headed straight to Central Park as Mum B wanted to do a carriage ride. It was a bit shorter than we thought it was going to be, but it was still a very pleasant experience nonetheless. The ironic thing was that we ended up with an Irish driver with a horse called Billy Bob!

From there it was off for a spot of lunch, then we took Mum and Dad B to the Rockerfeller Center so they could go to the Top of the Rock for a different view of Manhattan. By this time the temperature was hotting right up to become a scorcher, so Ian and Annalie sought refuge in the NBC Studio shop! With no intention of buying anything but purely for the air con!

After that experience, we took the parents to the M&M Store on Times Square so that Dad B could marvel at the memorabilia and amount of chocolate on show! From there it was back to JFK to drop them off in plenty of time for their flight.

As we weren't expecting to get back to Glastonbury until gone 9pm, we decided to stop off along the way and Annalie plumped for Bridgport, just because it was a but past half way. She looked up somewhere to go on the web and that's where we headed.

Monday started off in a bad way. Ian went back into work after his two week break looking after his parents, only to be told by the manager that he didn't want to keep him on because of Ian's decision to join the volunteer fire service, which might call him away at any time. Ian also specified a preference for not working weekends, another reason given for getting rid of him We wouldn't mind, but they knew both of these things before they even took him on, so we don't know what generated a change of heart.

Anyway, Ian dusted himself down and set about trying to find something else. We'd talked about the possibility of him doing some "door slamming", i.e. chaufeurring, as IAE uses a limo company quite a lot. So we got a contact and Ian got in touch. It all sounds pretty positive but there are various hoops that Ian has to go through to enable him to get the relevant endorsement on his driving license. Things like have his fingerprints taken, get a police background check and written proof of his driving qualifications and endorsements from the DVLA. Luckily the Data Protection Act means he can get that info, but it has to be applied for in writing so we don't know how long that will take to come back.

On Tuesday Ian got his first taste of volleyball for about 10 years. He used to play to a pretty high standard, and the league here is just a bit of fun, so even though he's out of practice, he was well above the standard of anyone else on the court. Unfortunately, because the Fire Service drill nights are every other Tuesday, he can't commit to volleyball, which he's quite disappointed about. It was the first time Annalie had watched Ian compete at any sport, and she was pretty impressed.

Ian had a couple of his "hubby for hire" jobs to do on Wednesday, but nothing too taxing so he was quickly done. Needless to say that, since his treatment on Monday, he won't be using Katz hardware store for his work gear - it's Home Depot all the way!

The usual soccer night followed on Thursday and Annalie joined in again, this time managing to get through without pulling any muscles! Part way through the game, Ian's fire pager went off so he had to dash off, to many jokes about saving cats from trees (which is a very important duty if you're that cat's owner!). It was actually to rescue a roast chicken that was in danger of being incinerated, setting off someone's fire alarm!

He's had a few shouts this week, some of them quite serious. One was to help rescue a mountain biker who'd taken a real tumble and, because of his location, the fire service needed to be called with their ATV to go and get him out to the ambulance. They were also called out on Saturday morning to rescue someone who'd fallen into the Connecticut River.

This weekend, the original Yankee Stadium witnesses its last ever game before the club moves to the new Stadium across the road next season. The closing series in the original park is against the Baltimore Orioles and runs Friday to Sunday. Ian would have liked to have gone to the final game but the cheapest tickets were around $150, which we know because Carla bought some. However, as a compromise we decided to take a trip down there on Friday night to see the first match against the Orioles.

The last time we'd been to see the Yankees, the score was only 2-0 and both runs were scored together, when Annalie was queuing for coffees This time she was determined not to miss any of the action and didn't leave her seat all night! Neither did Ian to be fair. The Orioles raced to a 2-0 lead, but the Yankees clawed their way back to lead 3-2. Ian was really pleased to have experienced the original Yankee home for one more time before it is torn down, but he's still waiting for the chance to catch a homer ball. Our seats were just above the Yankee bullpen (this does mean something to us!) and they did throw some balls out at one point but none came in our direction

We decided to leave after the 8th innings so we didn't get caught in all the masses leaving hte stadium at the end. We'd got a train to a nearby station on the Bronx, so walking between the subway and the train station was interesting at 10.30pm!! Luckily it was a very busy road so we didn't feel at all unsafe, but it was an experience all the same! We eventually got home at about 1.15am and did not stop or pass go, it was straight upstairs to bed.

This was our first weekend off in some time so we gladly went off to sleep without an alarm set, what a great feeling However, the Fire Department had other ideas and sent out a shout at 9.45am (the chap in the river). Thankfully it wasn't that early though.

Annalie made best use of the time to watch some of the programmes that were recorded on the DVR because the list was getting a bit long and the memory was probably running out. When Ian got back just after 12, she was still there in her dressing gown, making the most of her weekend off

On Saturday afternoon we'd agreed to play in a fun golf tournament with Andy and Kate. The tournament is arranged by the people on their estate but they had some spare slots and we agreed to fill some gaps.

It ended up being quite good fun, although it was more about the drinking than the golf The fact that someone was playing with a tennis racquet rather than golf clubs is testament to that! After the game it was in to the club house for a bbq and some more beers! Despite being a beautifully sunny day, the nights are getting quite cold, so we were all a bit sick of the cold by 7.30pm and decided to head for the Diamond Bar for some more beers.

Sunday is another day that promises little in the way of plans and no alarm to drag us up. What bliss that will be.