2015: A Year in Review

My Year Through Sport

2015 started in the best possible way, I was at White Hart Lane on January 1st with my mate Sam to watch Tottenham stuff Chelsea 5-3 in one of the best games I've ever seen there. It's been a good calendar year for Tottenham and we hope to have an even better 2016. Thanks to Baiju & Milan for the ticket. I also had the pleasure of seeing Spurs beat Aston Villa in November - thanks to Howard for that one & Stuart & Chris for my chariot.  

My February sporting highlight was a week of skiing in Englebert, Switzerland with Christian tour company 'Oak Hall'. As always with Oak Hall, I met some amazing people and even a business contact. Thanks to Adrian, Sallie-Anne, Matthew and Q.  

In March, Laura and I went to our first NBA game in New York as the Knicks took on the L.A. Clippers. Sadly it wasn't a great season for the Knicks and they lost quite comfortably but it was a great experience to be at Madison Square Garden for a basketball game. 

In April I popped over to Ireland to visit my cousin Nigel and his family (Freda, Tara, Sean and Cian) and whilst there I took a trip to Sligo to watch one of my Sierra Leone boys, Mustapha Bundu play for England Schoolboys U-18 against Ireland. A little note about that journey My return flights via Ryanair were £29.98. My car parking at Stansted was £38.00. At what point does renting a tiny piece of concrete in rural Essex become more than a return plane flight? Absolute madness. Anyway, Mustapha is a very talented footballer who was able to secure a scholarship with Hartpury College in England after passing his IGCSE's the year I was Headteacher at the school. I am immensely proud of his progress and he is now playing non-league for Hereford F.C. and scoring regularly. A name to watch out for... 

April also presented an opportunity to fly to a Southend away game in Morecambe (fly to Manchester and coach to Morecambe) from Southend airport to a game in which Southend would be promoted to League One if they won. 

Predictably Southend lost but it didn't stop me having a great time with my new friend Jeff and the rest of the boys (Finny also pictured). Southend were eventually promoted via a last minute goal and penalties at Wembley...a game I could not attend.      

May provided another enormously proud moment for me as Laura completed her first marathon (Milton Keynes). It is an amazing feat to run for 26.2 miles and she did it quicker than she had expected. It wasn't just on the day that I was proud of her though, it was her dedication to the winter training and her single-mindedness to complete the task. Laura speaks about her marathon so eloquently here: http://thethingwithfeathers.net/2015/12/19/five-things-i-learnt-in-2015/ 

    

On the running theme, June 2015 saw me 'officially' complete my first 5k park run inspired very much by Laura. I have to admit I hate every moment of the run itself but do enjoy the glowing feeling of accomplishment and exercise afterwards. My intention is to do a super-sprint triathlon in 2016. Watch this space. 

In August Laura and I added another new sporting venue to our ever growing list - the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Nice spot. 

Finally, in November I was able to fulfil another sporting wish and got tickets for the tennis season finale - The Masters at the O2 Arena. We struck gold with the players drawn, Murray v Nadal and it provided a great opportunity to take mum too.

   

Top Tips for New York City - 'The Big A'

In March 2015, the wife and I headed to New York for a wedding anniversary treat. I had visited previously in 1998, New York being my first ever destination as a 'backpacker'. 

In some ways many things have changed in NYC but in other ways absolutely nothing has changed. Many neighbourhoods look exactly the same including the subway which doesn't seem to have enjoyed any sort of redevelopment. Water seeping through into the stations from the ground above is seen as a way of life rather than a hazard. I think I noticed these things more having been immersed in the improvements and investment in stations and trains on the London Underground in recent years.   

I noticed something else too. The New Yorkers we met were incredibly friendly and welcoming. I think their reputation of  being rude and brash is pretty unfair. We witnessed one lady even miss her train so she could help some tourists understand the logistics of the subway and lead them through the barriers. 

In no particular order, here are some of my top tips for NYC.


1. Top of the Rock  

This refers to the view of NYC from midtown from the top of the Rockefeller Building. The entrance is on 50th St between 5th & 6th Avenues. We visited just before sunset and stayed until after sunset which meant we got great pics in day & night (your ticket is only an entrance time - you can stay how ever long you want). Pick your spot however as it gets pretty busy. At the very, very top the crowd was three deep so we went down one level. The reason why I think this is better than going up to the top of the Empire State Building is because you are looking at The Empire State Building which makes for great photos.  

   

You can also get great photos of the vast Central Park.

2. Take in a Game 

The basketball and ice hockey seasons were in full flow when we visited which meant we had a mid-week choice for a game at the iconic Madison Square Garden. We chose basketball and the New York Knicks (rather then the New York Rangers ice hockey). We bought tickets in the UK from the ticketmaster website and the re-sell tab. Great tickets for approx £40 each. Although the Knicks were pretty poor and lost to the L.A. Clippers, the Americans certainly know how to put on a show with a constant steam of entertainment through all time outs and half times. 

    

3. The High Line

"The High Line is a public park built on a historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan’s West Side. It runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to West 34th Street, between 10th and 12th Avenues." 

http://www.thehighline.org/visit

The High Line offers anyone the opportunity to walk more than 20 blocks of Manhattan without having to stop at each junction. No wonder it's popular. 

4. Walk Around Mid-Town Manhattan

I found walking the New York streets quite surreal as we are so familiar with them from tv and films. Actually being there was quite strange. We enjoyed strolling through mid-town during the day but preferred it at night. Something about all those lights...

Madison Square Garden (right) with Empire State Building 

5. The Staten Island Ferry (Free)

The Staten Island commuter ferry offers a free way of seeing The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. There is no opportunity of getting off at either of these attractions however. Although we had a boat trip included in our bus tickets we bought, we ran out of time to take the longer tourist tour and did this on the morning of our flight home. It is a 20 minute crossing. 

6. Take a Trip to Queens

The waterfront of Long Island City is well worth visit for the views of Manhattan amongst industrial & commercial relics and brand new residential and office blocks. The closest station to the waterfront is Vernon Boulevard – Jackson Avenue on the '7' line or Court Square on the 'E' line. We also had the pleasure of meeting up with our friend Lauren who took us on an un-official tour of Silvercup Studios which was the home of 'The Sopranos' and 'Sex & The City'.

On the roof of Silvercup Studios

7. Stroll (or even better, run) around Central Park

Central Park stretches 50 blocks in the centre of Manhattan from 59th St to 110th St. In the midst of her marathon training, Laura did a short training run. 

  

8. Take the Hop-On Hop-Off Bus 

The key to using the hop-on hop-off buses is make sure you have enough time. The grid structure of the roads and constant stopping means the tours are quite long. We took the City Sights tour bus (light blue bus) which gave us 3 days unlimited travel plus a boat ride for $59 each. We discovered that City Sights has merged with Gray Line which gave even more options of travel. We didn't get the most out of it due to our time constraints but did do the lower Manhattan Tour with a local guide which was great and then we did the Brooklyn tour which was not so great. It was pretty cold on the second bus which did not have a covered roof. 

1 World Trade Centre - 'Freedom Tower'

View from Manhattan Bridge on the way to Brooklyn

    
9. Use the Public Transport & Subway

From the airport: 
Use the air-train ($5 per person payable at the end of the journey) which takes you to Jamaica Station where you can pick up the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) which takes you into Penn Station ($7 approx). We did this on the journey in. On the way back to the airport we used the subway to get to Jamaica as we had worked that out by then and it would cost us only $2.75 each. 

The Subway:
The stations might look a bit tired and functional but the whole network works and it's the quickest way to travel across the city. Coloured lines with numbers or letters make it easy to work out. 
Top tips. You can buy a metro card and share it with up to 4 people. You can enter the station and hand the card back. This is because you pre-pay for the journeys. All journeys are $2.75 however long or short they are. 

A Still from the video of me singing 'I saw Her Standing There'

10. Karaoke with a Live Band

We found Hill Country Texas Barbecue at 30 W 26th Street on our first night and enjoyed the talent of New York getting up and singing a sing with the live band. We met some great people too that really made our night. Thank you Charles! 

The Cooks 7th Wedding Anniversary in New York