Page 8 Saturday August 25th 5th Day ----------------------------------- Today we were to visit Noreen and Larry Shaw, and so we set off early. We went by bus to the Staten Island Ferry to give me more glimpses of New York. It seemed quite a long drive, we passed through Harlem where I saw men playing on handball courts. We also passed the tenement which had held the famous Nunnery, but on the whole this part of New York looked much like any other big city. As the ferryboat made its way over to Staten Island, I had another close view of the Statue of Liberty. I falter when it comes to trying to describe this magnificent figure - it would use up all my adjectives before this report was barely started: I wondered if the daily commuter became so blase as to rarely lift their eyes up to watch. However; everyone else was looking, perhaps they were all tourists. On this ferryboat I was again confronted with a NO SMOKING sign. I had seen these signs in buses, in the underground, in stores, museums, and galleries. No wonder cigarettes are so cheap over there - they hardly ever got a chance to smoke them! Dickini met us with his car, and we drove through a pleasant residential district to Grant Place. At the beginning of this road stood a house with a magnificent garden of flowers; on looking back I realize it was one of the few I noticed. There seemed to be a lot of work put into the lawns, but flower displays were in the minority. It is an odd sensation to see houses with the American mail-box; no hedges, just like I had seen in so many movies. Little things like this would often give me a strong sense of unreality; as if I were sitting watching, and was not a participant in the scene. We reached No 16, and out darted Noreen to greet us. She was small,lithe, and she had a quick, incisive way of talking that shows a lively mind. Larry was as I remembered him; puffing his pipe and talking in his slow drawl with its slight undercurrent of nervous tension. We went into the garden where we found baby Steve who gurgled contentedly at us, and young Mike who showed great delight in the red bus of London which I had brought. Not that he lacked for toys..the garden held two swings, a seesaw and a rubber paddling pool! It was another lovely day so we stayed outside and got each other excited talking about the coming convention and the Willises' arrival. Naturally the fan talk was great to me, and we all discussed A TRIP TO HELL which had struck the New York area that week. Larry showed me round his basement, it was so roomy and ideal for fanactivity, that I felt envious once more. For my benefit Noreen had planned a cook-out meal. There was a brazier and I watched with interest as Larry got the fire going in this and then placed the meat on top for cooking. Food always tastes extra good outdoors, but all the same, after I had worked my way to the end of a large helping of strawberry icecream, I wondered what had happened to my usual small appetite. When we moved into the house I paused to admire Noreen's large kitchen, she told me she loved to cook. Inquisitively I browsed through their piles of paperbacks, and vowed to soon visit a paperback store as I saw their fine selection. Later the Good Humour Man came round selling his icecream, and though I blush to tell it..I ate one. I forget how many different flavours they told me there were, but whenever the subject of icecream came up someone would rattle off at me an inexhaustible list.