me-turn

breakfasst outside

This year's "breakfast at the terrace" season has been officially opened! A full hour of newspaper reading was pushing it a bit, I left the spot shivering (the umbrellas were rather unnecessary, it was overcast) but I'll try to take the best out of these moderately warm days - before it actually gets hot.

A day at the Racetrack

Today I bring you special coverage from the Belmont horse racing track, NY city, where my father-in-law (everybody calls him Sunny because his always on such a good mood) kindly took me.

The day started with a hearty breakfast and some research on the racing paper.



The parking lot at the track is so big that you take a bus from your car to the entrance.


Sunny's whole posse was already waiting at the table. Although we were at the track we were in fact following "simulcasting" from other tracks on a little screen.


I got lucky right on the second race of the day - very lucky.


The food was plentiful.




Sunny kept his cool the whole day. Winning or loosing - you couldn't tell the difference on his face. Some people at the other tables were quite a bit rowdier.


Needless to say: betting on horses didn't turn out to be an ingenious way for making money.

Shaving

Gilette has come up with something that will revolutionize the way we shave - a fully disposable razor. Instead of disposing just the blade, you throw away the handle too. The ads for this magnificent product scream "Enough said". I agree.



On a second, related note: no matter what kind of a razor blade you're using, micro corrosion will eat the best edge of it if you constantly leave it wet. I heard about this six months ago, started drying the razor after shaving, and have used ever since the same (disposable) blade.

Delivery Vehicles

Many of the American delivery vehicles look extremely old school - and boy I like them! These include school buses, UPS trucks, and many of the freight trucks but my favorite one tends to be the type of van that the mailmen use. Nothing beats a boxy tuna can finished with rivets!

Sunday Paper

The Sunday New York Times weighs about 5lb (2.3kg) and could be used as a murder weapon.

Entering a Restaurant

One of the New Yorkers' favorite activities is to wait on line in front of restaurants. I my self just gave it a try last Saturday morning. Nearly 1.5 hours of waiting. It was fun in the company of my wife and two nice visitors from Finland. I can see my self getting addicted to waiting on line - like so many in New York.

One little detail related to this experience: New York restaurants often have these temporary looking steel-and-tarp structures by their entrances to help keep heat in (or out, in the summer time). Not very elegant but somehow I like them.