Day 51: We're at Croton-On-Hudson, still

June 3. To quote Donna Simpson in the Waifs' soulful song. But we have serious business today. Preston is training off to check up on the state of play with the MetroNorth network and we're heading down-town a bit to Mt Vernon where Graeme has secured an appointment for the attention his retina problem requires. It was originally at Rochester on Lake Ontario, but the Erie Canal delay has changed that, and Graeme has found a retina specialist down near the Bronx who will do what he needs. What joy!

But in the meantime, a lady--Annie--comes along the dock and introduces herself. She lives nearby, with her retired policeman husband, and has been out walking and seen our NZ flag. She's a Sydney girl, originally, and we have a great chat. After all her years in the US, she has managed not to adopt (or have effected) the American accent, and that impresses us. Just a ridgi-didgi Aussie gal. We swap many stories of our 'backpacking' days o/s in the mid-70s.

But soon we have to head off to Mt Vernon. We drive down--a 30-min drive--suss the place out, and because we've heaps of time before his appointment Lorraine suggests we head over to the the New York Botanical Gardens and have our picnic lunch. So we do that (along with hundreds of other visitors, we soon find), and having eaten we queue up for the 30-min 'tram' ride around the gardens. This is worth the $10/person, and we enjoy the current focus on Vincent Van Gogh and his garden-inspired art. Once done we head for the car and return to Fleetwood (Mt Vernon) for Graeme's appointment. We haven't done the gardens justice, but we know what to expect if we ever return. We get Graeme to his appointment, and Jan and I amuse ourselves meanwhile, and only have to do that for an hour before Graeme emerges with the procedure done! They're not THAT streamlined in olde Dunedin!

We are all a VERY happy crew as we drive back to Croton. We're just getting our home-grown pizzas organised when Anne turns up with a bag of home-made Anzac biscuits (we can say 'biscuits' when we're among friends), tied up with a green and gold ribbon. Was there ever anything ever so sweet? I think not. Let's hope we're here long enough to have Anne and Owen over to the ship for dinner.

The Anzac biscuits are more than delicious...Читать далее