Sorry for only managing one post yesterday. The internet ran out in Durham, which was completed to the backdrop of High Force waterfall. I know how to live.
I also knew that because the Guardianista writers at the New York Rough Guide are so sniffy about Coney Island was all the more reason to spend Day 4 of our trip there.
Coming to America, as Eddie Murphy knows, and not doing Coney would be like visiting England and not doing Blackpool.
And we had to get value out of those $31 Subway passes.
I’m not sure I saw anyone on the Subway wearing a tie; office workers must all drive to Manhattan. It was a motley old crowd on their way to Coney beach as temperatures topped 30 degrees. We’d missed Saturday’s Mermaid Parade, for better or worse.
Old-fashioned but very clean, it’s nowhere near Blackpool size, more like Southend. But, heh, Southend in 30 degrees with cold beer !
Mrs RM and Matt went for a dip in the sea. Those images were confiscated at JFK under terrorism laws.
I took James for a stroll down the spotless promenade ins search of the real Coney, which seemed a bit gentrified compared to my mental images derived from Ramones and Lou Reed songs.
But the main image now was of giant, and frankly ugly, retirement apartment blocks. And a stroll along Woody Guthrie’s Mermaid Avenue that had James genuinely on edge, a nervousness that only abated when I bought him donuts from Dunkin’.
We gave the boys a few dollars to find a rollercoaster and a hot dog, and Mrs RM jumped at the chance of a beer at the eponymous brewery, integrated into the local baseball stadium.
Well, this was magical.
You can trust a place playing The Strokes and with a sign like this;
If I had a dollar for every tweet or comment telling me I should have gone to x or y brewery in New York I’d have enough dollars for one of those beers.
The IPA was the best we had all trip. My notes say we spent $25, which sounds cheap, as Mrs RM was total p****d when we left.
I only know that as I heard Matt say “Mum, you’re p****d” ten minutes later as we met up again on the beach, loaded up with pizza, curly fries and a cup of Brooklyn Summer Ale.
It was that last item, paraded by me down the boardwalk, that had James shouting,
“DAD, DAD IT’S ILLEGAL TO DRINK IN PUBLIC THEY’LL SHOOT YOU”
Grief, what a weird country.
retiredmartin 
Wasn’t the cow in the Community Garden last seen in Milton Keynes ?
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The Americans steal all our best ideas, Paul.
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My one time in NY I was struck by the huge variation in prices between bars; very reasonable up to daft for beers from the same brewery depending on location. Of course the exchange rate was a bit more favourable at the time. Unless you went to to the most upmarket places, lots of purchases (electronics, clothes) were veritable bargains.
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I suppose that since we have fish fingers, there’s nothing odd about buffalo wings.
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Few wear ties to work anymore. At least in the heartland.
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Doesn’t look as grand as Portrush. And they don’t have Harp on tap either.
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The US is a weird country.
By my count you have had more beer here in the last year than I!
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Really 😮
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When you’re a kept man I’d be wary of spreading gossip about Mrs RM being fluted, young Martin,
Just saying.
A word to the wise.
I’m speaking from experience here.
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P P-T,
I’ve never heard Timbo say a bad word about Mrs TM.
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Enjoying the NY posts. If you haven’t posted a blog in any 12 hour period we can trigger a sophisticated emergency response system to ensure you are safe. Only had to use it twice.
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Can you not just send WiFi from Paisley to Chester-le-Street?
No idea how it works.
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Will send it down with a courier next time
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You are officially more of a New Yorker than I’ll ever be, as in all my visits there I have yet to ever visit Coney Island. I know lots of people are real fans of the place though; hope to get there someday.
Did you have a coney island hot dog though? That’s the only coney island most of us midwesterners are sure to be acquainted with. 🙂
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The queue was too long and my lad was getting frantic that I was holding a beer from the other outlet.
I think the hot dog thing is more to do with longevity than quality.
Actually we ate grilled squid from a Korean outlet at a trendy Sunday food market in Brooklyn which is much more authentically Nu Yawk 😉
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