Around The World In 80 Waves

New York’s tree at the Rockefeller Centre is good but it isnt a patch on Trafalgar Square. Lots of festive trimming on offer here though. A bit disappointed not to have caught the Thanksgiving Day parade but it happened just before I arrived. Never mind.

The parade is sponsored by Macy’s which is the largest department store in the world and seemed like a good place to head for to do my Christmas shopping. After five hours and nearly losing the will to live I emmerged with a massive stack of parcels which I lugged over towards the Post Office.

It wasnt much fun at all dragging them through the hordes of frenzied teenage girls trying to get a glimpse of One Direction who were performing at Madison Square Garden, but I made up for it by convincing a sizable crowd that they were coming out the other door just by virtue of a British accent. The stampede I nearly created was quite impressive but clearly my queue to get inside the post office before the NYPD turned up. New York had the last laugh when I had to stump up over $100 to get the parcels on their way, completing a form of my whole life story for each one. The whole procedure took over an hour! You dont realise how good Royal Mail is until you see the alternative.