The other day I had a blocked sink. The problem wasn’t conveniently just underneath the sink, it turned out to be at the most inconvenient and hard to reach part of one of the pipes buired in the cellar somewhere. I think it had something to do with the veggie peels and coffee grounds I’d been feeding the insinkerator thingy.

Anyway not having a working sink is not an option so a trip to Home Depot was in order. Calling the hopeless chap who is supposed to help with this was not an option – I’m still waiting for some stuff I asked for 3 months ago. In any case, unlike its British cousin (B&Q), Home Depot has reasonably helpful staff (yes they are still care in the community types but much better all the same). In any case we found the plumbing section and were standing looking at the bewildering selection of pipe unplugging devices and toxic liquids. Whilst looking at all of these, one of the orange dungaree wearing types came up.

“Can I help”
“Yes, I’m looking for somethign to unblock a drainpipe.”
Then he took one look at me and said “its blocked up with hair, right?”

Cheeky sod.

I’ve made it to Hamster Jam. Surprisingly in one piece after the taxi driver drove the whole way up the gridlocked motorway on the hard shoulder – apparently undaunted by the stationary traffic there and the fact that sometime the hard shoulder just disappeared. Anyway on arrival he asked if I like sushi. I didn’t get why until I saw the place – it turns out I’m staying here  . It is a Japanese themed/ owned hotel and it is AWESOME.

The place has a Michlin star for one of its sushi restaurants. I didn’t know this when I went to eat there tonight. I thought it a little strange that the menu was just pictures of food with no prices. Given that I can eat my own boy weight in sushi it could have been v expensive but actually not toooo bad. OMG was it good though. A colleage and I got the last seats in the restaurant – we sat at the sushi bar(why does everyone prefer tables  – we virtually had a private sushi chef in front of us). Melt in the mouth food. Yum.

The rooms are pretty good too – mine has a great bath with a large flat screen TV above it. I’ll definitely given them a whirl. I’m less confident that I’ll try any of the alarming toilet control options though. I shudder to think what the ‘oscillating’ button does.

You might know that our corporate airline of choice is United (or Untied as my fingers seem to insist on typing). Anyway the cool thing is that because the planes are ancient and the cabin crew geriatric there was a deal done that means that if we fly international business we get upgraded if there’s space.  So before you go all “oooooh get you” if you’ve ever flown on United you’ll know that’s not really _such_ a big deal.

Anyway for the first time I got to see one of the refurbished planes – and actually they aren’t bad. Crazily even in first in most United planes you still only get a choice of 4/5 progammes that aren’t on demand. But the new ones have – I watched Deception (not bad actually), Kung Fu Panda (liked it but then I’m a sucker for cartoons) and Sex and the City (wow how overrated is this? Yawn) all at a time when it suited me. There’s still the odd reminder of the age of the planes – such as ashtrays in the loos but otherwise not too bad at all.

The seat is also pretty nice  – all curvy with lots of secret hiding spaces for stuff. The only really unusual feature is a three point belt/ harness. I’ve never seen that on a plane before. Otherwise the thing goes flat. Which is nice if you want to sleep.

Something very strange happened here the other day. Petrol prices (I still refuse to call it gas) went down. Now I’m very familiar with prices at the pump going up when the cost per barrel goes up – but I can never recall them going down when the price per barrel drops. What a fantastic surprise.

The price rises have been a HUGE source of wailing and gnashing of teeth here – with people even selling Corvettes and buying Smart cars because of the rise (as if you buy a Corvette for its petrol consumption). OK so it did increase significantly but compared to what we pay in the UK – it is still cheap as chips. I merrily fill my car with super-premium-with-knobs-on-petrol with a smile on my face. Usually a fill costs me about $40 🙂

I’ve mentioned the level of journalism you’ll find in some of the papers here before. Today I read a Pulitzer prize possibility in USA Today (the newspaper you step over when you leave a hotel room in the US). Anyway, today’s gripping front page news (below the fold but still front page) was that 21 year olds get shitfaced to mark the ability to drink legally. Who knew? Lucky we have such insights or we wouldn’t know what was going on in the world.

Additional insights include the shock revelations that, during the 24 hours surrounding their 21st birthday celebrations 54% experienced a hangover (surely not), 34% threw up and amazingly 26% suffered embarrassment.

I know I spend quite a lot of time bashing some of the stuff out here (don’t mention the food – urgh). Anyway there is one thing that is waaaaaay better. Don’t laugh but it is washing machines. Yes they are butt ugly but they are HUGE so you can get masses of stuff in, but they also only need 20 mins or so to wash your clothes. The fact that they are ugly isn’t a drama as they won’t really fit into most kitchens anyway – as you can see this is in the cellar. I guess that’s why you don’t see them in Europe.

I’ve never been much of a fan of TV stands. Well actualy that’s not quite true – they have always been in the same category as white goods and lawn mowers as far as how interesting they are to shop for. A girl going out to buy a TV stand must be the same as a boy going off to buy conditioner or hair straighteners. Anyway I finally gave in and bought a TV stand.

OMG this thing has transformed my life (OK not quite but it HAS transformed my living room). All the DVRs/ music stuff etc are no longer scattered around the floor with their accompanying tangle of wires and cables. This thing is fabuous. Unfortunatey I don’t have a before picture but here’s after:

Another thing that really struck me on the roadtrip is how much of the scenery is absolutely stunning. The trip took us as far as South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. Touring round here was completely breathtaking. Here are a couple of tasters.

I spent an astonishing amount of time during the trip fantasising about food. The most frequently occurring food-based daydream was about Welsh Rarebit. I mean bread that isn’t sweet, toasted and slathered with melting strong cheddar, with just a hint of Worcestershire Sauce. Mmmmmmmmmmmm

It isn’t that you can’t get cheese over here – in fact everything seems to come with cheese (even steak – yuk) but it is always looks and tastes like the plastic processed orange stuff you get in squares or plasticine with holes (AKA Swiss Cheese here). I think it might actually be against the consitution to have a sandwich without “Swiss” cheese.

After a long absence I returned to visit the Amalfi Coast. I’ve been there countless times and it still blew me away – the breathtaking rugged coastline, the intense flavours of the food, the sheer craziness of the drivers.

Highlights for me were beasting around the coast on a scooter (when in Rome and all that), visiting old friends at the fabulous Palazzo Belmonte (a brief visit turned into a wonderful 3 hour Italian lunch overlooking the sea) and an amazing cooking course at Mamma Agata’s in Ravello (where participants were fed to within an inch of their lives).

Mamma Agata and her daughter Chiara

* ok so I didn’t go to Sorrento but you know what I mean…