I knew something was going to happen to my bag the moment I gave it to the curbside check-in guy at Newark airport. He made a big deal about how he was going to ‘look after my bag really well.’ I nodded my head and thanked him and after the third time he said it [...]

Last night I was in Jersey – Sopranos’ country – to give a talk at Scooters Originali. It’s a cool scooter shop in Orange that not only sells new Vespas but restorations as well. They put on an excellent spread of food and drink, including a six-pack of Boddingtons. Alan, one of their customers, brought [...]

Just before my Delta flight back to New York from New Orleans was about to take off yesterday I was de-planed. It was the first time it has ever happened to me but luckily all the other passengers seemed old hands at it so I shuffled off the plane doing what they did. Being de-planed [...]

I had a quiet day today. Just hanging out and buying a few souvenirs for the girls back home. A get-rich-quick ju-ju doll for Sally (her request). And a collection of Mardi Gras beads for Daisy. I also went to the cinema for only the second time since Daisy was born. You’d think I’d see [...]

I spent the afternoon at the Vespa store in New Orleans today. It’s set in a cool building in the warehouse district and I whiled away the hours signing copies of Vroom, chatting with the staff and alerting potential customers to the useful seat hook that every Vespa has. About 2 p.m. a few members [...]

I took a cab from New Orleans airport to the French Quarter. Partly because Di, a loyal blog reader, complained that I hadn’t caught enough in NY. Mainly because the cheaper shuttle service has been running properly since Katrina. My driver was an ancient, skinny-assed good old boy whose hands shook as he tried to [...]

On a totally unrelated note, the Principal at my old high school has been sacked for selling school furniture on eBay. You can read the story here.

After meeting the great man I made my way over to Harry’s Loft on East 19th Street. The NY Writers Circle was meeting there and I was invited to talk to them. It’s organised by a really switched on Australian girl called Callia. I joked with my publisher that it was all part of the [...]

I was supposed to be riding through Manhattan with the NYC Scooter Club tonight. I was really looking forward to it as well. But around 3 p.m. the word went out. I was being summonsed to meet Mario Batali. Mario Batali is the US equivalent of Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver. When he says he’d [...]