Day 94

25th March 2022

NYC

A couple of days after my 23rd birthday, I moved to Manhattan.

I was going to be an actress and was enrolled at HB Studio on Bank Street.

In hindsight, I don’t know if I wanted to be an actor more than I wanted to run away from my job & my life!

My first job was at Channel Nine in Sydney. It was a good job, as far as jobs go.

I just hated school so much and was really looking forward to adulting and having a job sounded so fun, plus you got paid!

Only, having a job was kinda like school only scarier, if that’s possible, and the pay was rubbish.

In 1995 I earnt $476 a week! I lived at Bondi Beach and the Network was in Artarmon. I’d just turned 20 and I didn’t have a car. 😒

It was a daily slog.

First, I took a bus from the beach to the Junction, and then a train to Wynyard where I changed trains and got off at Nth Sydney, where I got another bus and then finally, hauled ass up a 45deg hill, then up 2 flights of stairs to my desk. Along the way I passed TV stars and important stuffy execs, and all the while with a sweat moustache.

It was too much.

After 4 years, I quit.

I moved to New York on my own. I didn’t know anyone and so I joined Roommate Finders and filled out the form and was matched with David Bradford.

David was a cab driver and a photographer. He took pics from his cab and was putting together a book.

I lived with him for just over a year.

At the time, he was putting together his book ‘Drive By Shootings’. The pictures in this book were all over our apartment.

I mean ALL OVER.

They were stuck all over the walls side by side from floor to ceiling. Everywhere!

David and I didn’t see each other much. He was a cabby from 3.30am until 3.30pm.

I was waitressing from 10pm until 3am and then I’d head out to party and then sleep until drama classes started.

David used to smoke tiny joints, he’d hold with this wire holder thingy.

We used to have random conversations in the hallway of the apartment one or twice a week, and he would offer me puffs of his joints.

He wore thick black glasses & I thought he was an odd kind of guy, but very cool.

Anyway, it was an exciting time. His book was being published and I was proud to know him.

It went on to be a best seller in New York and in Germany, and I think in France too.

They made a documentary about him in Germany and I remember he went over there for a talk show.

So, I’ve never read this book. 😬

I’ve had it for 23 years and I’ve never read it. I’ve only ever looked at the pictures.

Today, Liam and the kids dropped me off to work really early and I couldn’t find my other book, so I grabbed this off the shelf and ran out the door.

As I began reading, it was like watching an old favourite movie but from a different character’s perspective.

I knew what New York was like for me. Now, I was reading what New York was like for him.

All while we shared the same apartment.

He was 46 when he wrote his book. I’m 46 now.

It’s surreal to read about moments that are stored in my mind as a 23-year-old, only to revisit them with my 46 year old’s prospective.

It’s like a time warp.

I was so drawn to his story.

He worked at Saks Fifth Ave as an art director, was making good money and had social status but gave it all up to be a photographer, knowing the sacrifice he would be making. He wanted his free time to work on his passions.

I can relate.

If only I hadn’t had been so young and wild and distracted, I would have sat with him longer and enjoyed these stories.

So, as I’m reading his book and re absorbing the photographs from my years in NYC I’m surprised by how the pictures move me.

They’re not my memories. But they’re transporting me back to that time.

I saw these pictures all over my apartment, every day, for over a year.

I can feel the atmosphere, just looking at them.

These are just a few, but there are literally hundreds.

I hope you like them.

My roommate.

Sometimes he would tell me about his previous roommates & I always used to tease him that I was his favourite roommate (I’m sure I annoyed the crap out of him) and I would constantly ask him; “Am I your favourite roommate?” He always laughed “No!” I was so surprised & thrilled when he signed my book with this!!

The top picture is this pipe thing that would just pop up in the middle of the road or the ‘sidewalk’. All over the place. That city is so hot it literally lets off steam. It’s one of the first things I noticed when I moved there. The second picture is of David’s dog Lola with some cute kids he walked past one day. Lola was old and died before I moved in.

David writes ‘You can feel the silence driving through the park in the snow.” It’s true. I remember feeling the silence too.

Serenaded in NYC 😂

My boyfriend at the time had an apartment right behind the Flat Iron building. I used to walk past this building all the time. It’s a nice neighborhood.

Moments in time from the back seat of a New York taxi. I wonder where these people are now.

Farm School

I’ve been so lost in my book; I haven’t even told you about the home school day!!

Apparently, there were lots of kids away today.

Mila made rocket sleeves and was immensely proud to tell me that she started the trend because then everyone made rocket sleeves. 😂

They made hashbrowns.

Lincoln & Leo played sword fights on the trampoline.

Dad turned up an hour early and hung out with everyone & he got to meet Bonny the farmyard doggy.

On the way home, Liam took them to a look out.

“You could see ALL of the South Coast.” Lincy said.

They came across the cutest honey stand and bought some fresh honey.

When they collected me from work, Mila stuffed a grubby finger into the jar and then into my mouth before I could even put my seat belt on!

“Mmmm. Yum, thank you.” I said, tasting the honey as well as the entire day at the farm.

Tomorrow is Saturday which can only mean one thing.

Banana pancakes & sleeping in!

💗

Best day ever!

Bonny.

Liam said the farmer came out and explained all about the different kinds of honey.

Whenever your butt’s this dirty….it was a good day. 😂