Roll Up, Roll Up

Hello dear readers. To get the real stuff out of the way first: Yep, AlaraApothecary will be exhibiting at the Country Living Fair at Alexandra Palace in London from the 28th – 31st of March. How excited are we? Impossible to quantify. In our usual spirit of generosity, we are holding a competition and giving away pairs of tickets to the Fair. To see what will be going on there, click on this link https://www.countrylivingfair.com/what-is-there-to-buy/ It’s going to be good so we hope you will come and say hello when you attend. We are at stand C4 (no, they did not enjoy my semtex jokes…. 🙂 ), right opposite the food court so I KNOW you’ll be visiting that! To enter the competition, follow us on Instagram or Facebook and tag us in your feed. Bonne chance.

In other news, I have just returned from New York this very morning. Yes, I am crazy jet-lagged, and yes it was awesome. We had the best time. See that glow in the picture below? That is your actual sunshine. We had one seriously rainy day and then it was glorious spring weather all the way.

Sunshine in Central Park

The usual buzz was there; Manhattan always amuses me as it has such a cinematic quality about it. Yes indeed, people were still skating at the Rockerfeller Centre, there was mist around the Empire State building in the mornings, the subway is still filthy but cheap and the place is gearing up for a massive party to celebrate St.Patrick’s Day this weekend. If you want to have a good time, you don’t need to look too far for it. I can report that the Chrysler Building still makes my heart skip a beat, just in case you were wondering. I was disappointed that the pro-Trump and con-Trump groups are no longer heckling one another across Fifth Avenue. This new sense of maturity on both sides is deeply unnerving 🙂

Diehard skaters at the Rockerfeller Centre

Serious goodies at Blue Mercury

Two of my all-time faves in one shot: Chrysler Building playing peekaboo behind the New York Public Library

I had time to visit some of the best beauty stores in Manhattan including Tisane Pharmacy, New London Pharmacy (which smells amazing!) and Blue Mercury. But first a big shout-out to the staff at The Omni Berkshire Place who were really chilled and helpful, from the doormen and bellhops (hello to Tony) to the reception staff. Highly recommended – it’s not cheap but it’s comfortable and the location is great. When it was chucking it down on Sunday we went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral for Mass as it’s next door; it was a bit bonkers in there and the service was very, very brief for someone used to hardcore 2-hour services. Excellent banter with the ushers though, and it’s always great to see their copy of Michelangelo’s Pieta although I didn’t get to see it this time as the next mass was just starting. So what’s changed since I went last summer? Well, don’t know if it’s me but eating out is a lot more expensive, books are ruinously expensive even compared to independent UK booksellers (patronise them please. They need your custom), and compared to Amazon………. I hate to think what that’s doing for America’s literacy rate. It is also possible that New Yorkers are getting more polite! Shock, Horror 🙂 Either I was looking particularly fly all the time I was there or there are some seriously nice guys in NYC.

I’d been rewatching ‘White Collar’, (I tend to watch old programmes when I’m stressed, it’s like having a warm bath) so I was already fully immersed in the Manhattan frame of mind anyway. I knew we were going to have a good time when I managed to charm the immigration guy into some banter and got some laughs out of him! Actual laughter!! Believe me, that’s no small feat- I felt like I’d developed a super-power. Have a great week and don’t forget about the Fair. Toodle pip.