I heart New Jersey

On Sunday I took a bus to visit my old friends David & Mindy in Caldwell, New Jersey. They used to be my bosses at the MaleXpress mail-order warehouse in Highgate. Ah, they were happy days, trying to match Mindy's speed at inputting orders for 'adult material' on the computer. Now they are back in NJ, where Mindy grew up. They did offer to come in to the city to see me but i really wanted to see New Jersey, although apparently that is a laughable ambition to the locals.

Anyway, they have two lovely daughters, Rachel (8) and Georgia (5), and we all went out to the pancake house for brunch. Why don't we have more brunches in England? Brunch is the most important meal of the day. Here you can perhaps see what we all chose from the extensive pancake-themed menu, ranging from Rachel's chocolate-chip creamy concoction pancakes to my eggs, sausage patties and pancakes. All with maple syrup of course.

I saw the apartment where the family are staying till they settle down and also Mindy's folks' place across the street. Deer and skunk frequent the backyards but i didn't get to see any. The area is a bit 'Desperate Housewives' but then this is my problem here - everywhere i go looks like something off the telly. In fact my whole Ameriphilia is probably nothing but love of telly. Oh and Woody Allen. There's a great piece in the current issue of the satirical newspaper The Onion in which Woody Allen purportedly writes a column headed, 'Someone should make a movie about my life.'

Now my gf Jane has hit town, raring to go. Tonight we'll see some burlesque and on Saturday we have matinee tickets for the Sondheim musical Company, which everyone says is fabulous. If i owe you an email, i'm sorry! I have fallen behind but will try to catch up.

—H x