Nothing Crabby about this Big Apple

Just got back from a weekend in New York. It was my second time and I fell in love with it just a little bit more. The outrageous symmetry of streets crossing avenues, teeny churches nestled between glass Art Deco giants and perky parks popping up just when you need them, NYC is truly the planned 2nd child of world class cities though, it is still entirely possible to get just a little bit lost. And thank god for that as the most coveted gems of any city are usually found between the cracks in the pavement.

At the centre lies the respiratory system rising and falling around the craggy corners and luscious lawns of Central Park where a seal lives very contentedly in a zoo petting area, I discovered.

A view from every window, modern history and social commentary at every corner, this is the city that doesn't have to talk about itself any more. I spent Saturday in the company of a war correspondent, a picture editor and a hip hop artist & writer. Was this just a lucky coincidence? Or is it that a city such as New York can't help but create this kind of urban poetry, drawn there from elsewhere in search of nurture.

Intense and funny, intensely funny - that was the leitmotif of my weekend in a city that just keeps on giving. From the oldest, most misogynist bar in town (McSorleys, where wishbones from last chicken suppers of soldiers that never made it back still hang from a dusty chandelier) to a narrow curry house as bright as it was narrow. You won't be disappointed by the food or the waiters (delicious and rude) just as curry should be served.

From the best awful burlesque bar, The Slipper Room, in deepest lower East Side - hosted by Jesus Christ himself - (all C-section, no silicon and full of meaty goodness, it was worth every cent) to old school DJing at a Saki Bar near Tompkins Square Park. And I had a lot more dance in me yet but our hosts had responsibilities and cabs to find that would take them to Brooklyn at 2am. Mission Impossible in a city where taxi drivers don't for the most part actually want you in their cabs at all.

So we parted on a high with much gratitude and shaky hugs and wants that will have to wait for the next trip - the best way to leave.