The Love Boat

The time has come to offically introduce my car to the world.

After using Shank's pony for a month or so, one of the church directors, John Tosy, undertook to sort me out with a vehicle. He would kindly pay for it and his wife, Mary Ellen would pay my first year of insurance.

Despite the fall in automobile prices, finding a car to fit the budget required that we do some "bottom feeding". We headed off to Helping Hands where cars are donated for a tax rebate and then sold to generate funds for charity.

As we were picking our way through the wrecks, my future ride was dropped off at the yard. We snapped it up, even though it had a siezed water pump and burnt out belt. It is a 1995 Mercury Sable GS. 3.0l V6 engine, which Americans describe as "economical".

It is white, so Heather named it the "Snow Mobile" in anticipation of the coming weather. When the snow finally fell, we realised how white snow is and how grotty the car colour is!

Some church members have named it the "White Cloud" My elevated driveway causes it to hover over the church parking lot like a small Cumulonimbus when it is parked.

It has the coolest headlight configuration. Where other cars have a radiator grill, mine has an illuminated panel that stretches between the headlights into one long "unibrow". Making my car look like a space ship at night! Step aside Cylons!

However, my preferred name for the car is derived from the nautical lines of the car. It has a funny flatness over the rear wheel arch which is reminicant of a boat. It has no metal rear window stays. The glass wraps around the rear of the car continuously, looking like a luxury yacht. The interior is blue. And I mean blue. It even drives like a boat. Chugging along, drifting carelessly from side to side with the slightest nudge of the wheel.

Yes, my car is the love boat. I don't care how high you lift your eyebrows when I say it.

30 Rock

At some point during the painfully protracted renovations of our home in 2005, Heather and I vacated our bedroom and set up camp in the lounge. I can't remember why this became expedient, only that for a few weeks we broke a rule we have kept since our wedding: to keep the TV out of our bedroom.

Despite going against principle, we enjoyed the destressing effect of lying in bed and watching TV every night. It was during this period that we became firm favourites of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien". Conan's off beat sense of humour and other characteristics (and the obvious common surname) have placed him in a branch of my family tree. (although I can't back that up with paperwork)

In time we grew to enjoy watching Jay Leno and discovered the extent of the entire NBC family of programs. One of the more successful series is Tina Fey's "30 Rock" which is a reference to Rockeller Centre, the central feature of the animated intro to the Conan O'Brien show. The Late Night studio and the Saturday Night Live studio is in Rockefeller centre. It is the Mecca of classic American humour!

Rockefeller Centre is walking distance from Times Square. I didn't care about how tired Timothy was, or how my shoulders felt like mince-meat from being Caleigh's public transport all day, we were going! Here are two pics of Christmas decor en route.

As we walked alongside the famous skyscraper we stumbled upon the NBC studio gift shop where I picked up some memorablia. I resisted spending $30 on a "I need more Cowbell" cowbell. Besides it didn't sound like a real cowbell. It sounded tinny. It has to sound right!

Outside again, the Rockefeller Centre Precinct was so busy, I became convinced that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were using the ice rink! Using my height to peer over everyone else I discovered that the mob was simply a lot of tourists. The famous Christmas tree is positioned in front of the Rockefeller Centre. Check it out.

Electric Euphoria

I'm having second thoughts about my thoughts on Liberty. Maybe it was a mistake to try and capture the essence of Liberty in a statue. The mistake of the ancients was to try and capture the essence of God in a statue. Still, Lady Liberty is inspiring and God-prescribed freedom for all humanity is my core value. Yes, that's right, I don't believe freedom is a human right, it is our Creator's prescription for us. If we do away with God, you don't get the prescribed freedom.

Just before our ferry ride we had stopped at Ground Zero. Much of the site is sealed off as construction on the freedom tower progresses. There is a slight residue of eerieness about the place, even 7 years later. Here we are posing in front of a picture of the proposed buildings.

On we went to Times Square. It is fascinating even during the day!

We hung out at Times Square for a few hours. Visiting the fabled Toys R Us that Justin De Reuck told us about. It has the ferris wheel and life-size growling T-Rex inside. This was pretty cool. Unfortunately the shop also had hundreds of growling shoppers inside, because after all, this was the Christmas shopping season and a big snow storm was headed our way.

The resulting crush was probably the most dramatic shopping experience I've had, and I wasn't even buying anything! Most of our energy was spent making sure our children weren't snatched. I decided enough was enough when I found myself standing in a pool of vomit that some overstimulated shopper had left behind. With so many people around you, you can't even see the floor.

After a visit to the busiest McDonald's in the world where the line to the ladies loo is ten times longer than the ordering line, we headed back out into the post-sunset square.

As we stood on the red illuminated steps above the ticket office, getting the tourist view of Times Square, Heather commented on how elated she was feeling. It was a chilly but beautiful New York night, no wind and the city that never sleeps had transported us into a the heart of her electric euphoria. Do they pump happy gas into Times Square? or was I feeling the addiction that draws millions to make this concrete jungle their home?

Reflections on Liberty

On the 6th of December, Brendyn and the O'Brien family went to visit NY in the care of our two guides, Danny and Eric. We spent the evening of Friday the 5th in a Sheraton in Hartford, Connecticut, where Danny, Eric and Brendyn would draw straws to decide who slept on the floor!

The following morning we entered the Big Apple. One of our first landmarks was the George Washington Bridge.

After passing about 37 buildings all called "Trump Place", (All that money brings little imagination!) we arrived at the New York stock exchange which thankfully wasn't emitting the sounds of weeping and gnashing of teeth, because it was a Saturday!

After that, we headed down to Battery Park and boarded the FREE Staten Island Ferry which would take us close enough to get a better look at Lady Liberty.

I was looking forward to the moment when we would sail past the Statue, as I had seen drawings of the Irish immigrants entering New York in the mid to late 1800s. The symbol of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness must have been a sweet site to the travellers after the harrowing trip to escape the clutches of the exploitive English empire. My direct ancestors had only managed to make the journey from famine stricken Ireland into the clutches and coal-mines of the English oppressor in the industrial north of England. I felt it my duty to complete their flight to freedom, all be it 150 years later.

The ferry trip was cold! Parental duties abounded as we kept a watchful eye that Michael didn't end up in the water and Caleigh wasn't abducted. As we passed the statue on our return trip I wondered whether I would have an opportunity to reflect on what I was feeling while seeing it literally in front of me.

Sensing the need for my moment of solitude, Heather gathered the children and took refuge in the warmth of the enclosed area, leaving me to ponder in the presence of one of the most famous sights on the planet.

I realised that the statue of Liberty represents something more than the American nation, it was after all created by the French, whose brutal grasp at liberty was far from ideal. Nevertheless, the French claim to have invented democracy and I suppose it was an act of French congratulation that inspired the gift of the statue.

I believe the ideals of liberty belong to no nation. Instead they are woven by God into the DNA of all mankind. Since Eden, man has a magnetism to slavery and God's intention is to restore man's freedom. God's desire is that every man bow only to Him. Subordination to a fellow human is below the dignity of humanity, the crown of creation. (Note: subordination is different to voluntary submission in the name of love)

The statue is fittingly situated just offshore, apart from the mainland, in almost a independent embassy to all who want freedom. Lady Liberty belongs to the world. If the French slip in to the slavery of unbelief, if the Americans slip into the slavery of debt, freedom will always call to those seeking it. The statue itself has no power to secure deliverance from slavery, only the name of Jesus can.