Seems the weather from Melbourne has finally caught up to me. It has been cold, windy, and wet all day today. As if I needed a reminder that I was going home! I was planning to go up at least one tall building before I went, but there didn't seem like a lot of point.

This morning I walked, in the rain, to Ess-a-Bagel on the corner of 1st Avenue and East 21st Street for the third and last time. This place was one of the major figures in the New York Bagel Wars of the 1970s. The first time I went there I made the faux-pas of asking to have my cinammon raisin bagel toasted. The man serving seemed quite indignant, saying, "We do not toast our bagels here, sir. They are fresh!" I never asked for it toasted there again. But tasting it, I realized they didn't need toasting. Definately among the best bagels I've eaten here, particularly if it is served hot and fresh from the oven!

That shrewd philosopher of religion Belinda Carlysle was correct when she asserted that heaven was a place on earth. It's a small coffee shop in Greenwich Village called "Joe the Art of Coffee", and this morning I went there to have my last good machiato before I depart for the colonies. They have been spot on every time!

I've been to see two shows in the past three days. On Friday I saw the Blue Man Group. It was a sort of performance art. Really funny though. It's been really popular. They have been performing at the Astor Place Theatre for the last 17 years.

Last night I went to the New York Theatre Workshop to see a play. NYTW is alleged to be the authentic New Yorker alternative to Broadway, and has won quite a few awards. Apprently this was where Rent was first performed (still haven't seen that one). The play was called Black Eyes, and was about four Arab women in limbo about to enter the "room of martyrs". Hard to describe exactly what it was about with such little time to think about how to articulate it in writing.

I have also spent the last few days frantically doing last minute shopping. On Saturday and Sunday, I mostly cruised the markets. And there are a lot of markets. There was a big one on Lexington Avenue, and a farmers market in Union Square, and one in Soho along Broadway and West Broadway. Lot's of artists on West Broadway selling their work on the streets. There was some really impressive (and expensive) stuff.

I think that's about it. This will be my last post. If anyone is still reading, I hope you have enjoyed my blog. I'm sad to leave New York, but in a way it will be good to get back home, back to my routine and my study. I also think my constitution has probably reached its capacity for solitude, as I have more or less explored New York alone. It's been a challenge, and it's been fun, but I look forward to catching up with my friends and family when I get back to Melbourne (after a good night's sleep, that is!!)

Signing off,
Dale Hutchinson