Taken from the bus window: proof that spring has come to NYC.

These last two days have been exhausting. I was already suffering from lack of sleep, but Sunday night was the worst. A combination of me worrying about getting enough sleep and Don sleeping noisily (he’s sick, but he’s a noisy sleeper most of the time) was the problem. So I came downstairs to sleep on the sofa and I think I got less than 4 hours. It was a very, very long day in the city and I didn’t get home until 9:30 pm. I was so tired that I just took a bath and went to bed.

Yesterday, I had to get up at 5 am to get to a 10 am rehearsal call, so I was still operating on about 1 cylinder. Thankfully, I only had to be there for an hour, so I got home around 1 pm, whereupon I sat in my chair in a catatonic state and eventually took a nap. Last night, I had a better night’s sleep and I coach in the afternoon today. I will still have to leave fairly early due the weird bus schedule, so I’ll have to kill some time before rehearsal. I’ll be done by 5 and will hopefully get home by 7:30 pm, which means I can have some dinner with Don.

It changes every day.

Anyway, as I’ve always said, the coaching isn’t the problem; once I’m coaching, I’m in the zone and I love it. It’s the damn logistics of it all with so much travel every day.

I really haven’t had any time to do anything but commute, work, come home, sleep, and do it all again. So that means I don’t have time to answer your comments, but I do read them, my friends, and appreciate them.

Don has the equivalent of a bad head cold and he’s pretty miserable. I’m not feeling tip top either, but we’ll get through it.

The cast is very nice, as is the support staff; stage managers, director, etc. We have a lot to do in a very short amount of time, but that’s okay. I work best under a wee bit of pressure.

I’ll try to get some more egg cup pictures when I can. Do you want to see my more traditional egg cups? Some of them are quite pretty. Let me know.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Because weekend bus schedules offer less frequent trips, I had to go into the city early yesterday, arriving just about 2 hours before I had to be at rehearsal. So I walked east from Port Authority to Bryant Park, one of my favorite places in NYC. It’s a bit bleak at this time of year, but it was very satisfying to have a little free time apart from immediately walking 20 blocks to rehearsal.

The rear of the New York Public Library Main Branch.

The skating rink.

It was cold, but there were lots of people there, buying hot chocolate or a cup of coffee. Whenever I go there, I am reminded of Paris. I really miss Paris.

Then I visited Kinokuniya across the street, a shop full of books and Japanese manga and stationery and pens and journals and planners. There’s so much in this section that it’s almost overwhelming and I could only pay a brief visit. I’ll be back there next week, so maybe I’ll have a bit more time to visit.

Then I headed back to Port Authority to 9th and 41st and headed north to rehearsal. I walked down Don’s old street and – press release – I was wrong!

The Mexican restaurant next to Don’s building didn’t close! There is new signage and I was looking at it from across the street so I thought it was a new business. Needless to say, I sent this photo to Don, who was very happy indeed. The steps lead down to the front door of Don’s former apartment.

Rehearsal went well – we ran the whole show for the first time. Then a lunch break in which I got to chat with all the wonderful people working on the show, including Darko. Then I had some private time with the actors to give them notes.

Then I had to hang out in the dreaded Port Authority for 90 minutes until the next bus.

All in all, 12 hours from the moment the bus left the station for NYC until I got off the return bus at 8 pm.

One more day next week. I’m supposed to go in on Wednesday, but the weather may be an issue. We may get snow that day. The forecast keeps changing, so I’ll have to keep an eye on it.

So. I added 10 more blocks on to my ‘normal’ 40 blocks and, given that I had only slept for 4 hours, I’m quite pleased with myself! After a few days of this trek, I’m in better shape. I just have to continue to walk around here, which is not nearly as interesting as walking in a city.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.