New York, NY

Monday 22nd Hi all, Ali finally made it into surgery at about 10pm last night. All went well but her appendix had ruptured meaning that her recover time will be delayed. She was taken down to her room at about 3am on Monday thus, she was a little tired throughout the day. We are so thankful that she is receiving excellent quality care and attention. Apparently her surgeon, Dr Roslin, is quite a known character here in NY and is consultant doctor to ‘Good Morning America’. Can’t wait to see his bill! We have nothing but praise though for all of the medical staff at Lenox Hill. They are very attentive, caring and supportive. I hope that just isn’t because we have travel/health insurance! If you ever have the misfortune to fall ill in NY, make sure you head straight to 100 East 77th St, Lenox Hill Hospital! The rest of us made the most of Monday after I had visited Ali in the morning. Visiting hours are from 11am and children are not allowed. So, when Tom and I turned up at 10am…we were told to go away. I eventually talked my way in but Tom was not happy sitting in the waiting room for the hour. After returning home and gathering the others, we headed to Grand Central Station markets. The wet/food markets there were comparable to the better end of DJ food Hall or Norton St. This was a reassuring experience after a diet of hot dogs, burgers and pizza on offer elsewhere. We then walked up 5th Avenue to the skating at the Rockefeller Center to change our observatory tickets to the Friday so Ali can join in. They were also upset about our plight…as is everyone who hears! From there we went by subway down to Battery Park and caught the free ferry out to Staten Island and back to take the obligatory photos of the Statue of Liberty. Back on land, we headed up to Wall St and it was so cold that Mark actually asked for a warmth break at Starbucks. Anyone who knows Mark well must know just how cold he was to want to stop there! We saw the giant bronze raging bull with just about every other tourist in NY, Wall St and the NY Stock Exchange. It was pretty quiet around the financial district otherwise, not surprisingly. From Wall St we walked up to Ground Zero where, sadly, it is simply a building site now. The viewing platform and the very moving memorial/display has been dismantled and the whole perimeter is boarded up. It was difficult to impart on the kids just how massive and significant this destruction was when they were not able to view the area. We ended up having a quick look in at Century 21 for some gloves for Mark but gave up. It was like a very crowded old Woolworths store…not a pleasuarble experience at all and Mark decided he will wait for a trip to Macy’s. After that we headed to the very crowded subway with Annabelle and Mark heading off to see Ali and Tom and I heading home to cook dinner. Mark and I went back to see Ali again after dinner but it was a relatively early night for all of us.