Toilet humour

A smashing day weather-wise today and just perfect for our jaunt "uptown" to visit Central Park. I was astounded by the number of people (of all shapes and sizes, it has to be said) running round the park on a Saturday morning, but I guess if you have a city centre as busy as New York it must be great to get to a clearer area to take your exercise.

Met a lovely chap (Volunteer Paws) with his pooch Teddy, who told us a bit about the area and what to look out for before handing us a freebie map of the park (now wasn't that nice?). We got him to take a snap of us, but not using it for the blip as it was taken by someone else. Also in the park was a partially-sighted saxophone player who was standing under an old brick arch, resulting in the most wonderful accoustics - the soulful tunes could be heard over a wide area.

But the main highlight of the day was that I wanted to visit the Guggenheim Museum - one of the ten best sights of the city according to our guide book(s). So off we duly trotted, paying our entry fees without batting an eyelid...even thought we did have to hand over bags, coats and my (now) beloved cutlass umbrella to the security cloaks storage area for the duration of the visit. Still, I felt sure it would be worth the visit. Mind you, I was disappointed when we were told that cameras could only be used in the ground-floor foyer, which seemed a bit mean in such an architecturally stunning building. Still, not to be put off we set off up the curling ramps to view the displays...

The first offering seemed to be a mangle of twisted metal (albeit in bright colours), while the second display appeared to be fractured chrome bumpers attached in an upright manner to several lengths of steel bars. Well, I listened to the audio narrative at the start, but soon realised that all the information seemed quite earnest in its description of what I can only describe as a load of "b#//#cks"...! But wait - it got worse! The twisted metal displays filled the WHOLE OF THE MUSEUM, interspersed with the odd twisted aluminium foil contraption or (even better) rolls of old industrial foam tied up with string! Sadly, for Mr A, in no time at all I was in hysterics with laughter, while everyone around us was so deadly serious, which of course made it all the funnier. I was literally crying with laughter at the displays which were (in my opinion) absolute and utter rubbish. I haven't laughed so much in years. Luckily, Mr A soon saw the funny side too and was laughing along with me (albeit not as loudly as me!). But the final display in the top room just took the biscuit. It was a shallow wooden box (about 1.5m by 2.5m at a guess) of varying textures of grass, sand, gravel & leaves that you were encouraged to WALK OVER, while microphones picked up the sound...! And the piece de resistance was the perspex hood contraption (looking like an old hood hairdryer) that housed a small loudspeaker that broadcast the sounds of the museum...so whoever was listening to that at the time we were going round in hysterics and exclaiming that it was a load of "xxxxxxx's" must have heard that too! Safe to say, we were completely cracked up by this stage and deemed it time to leave.

Sorry, the "art" of John Chamberlain is not for me!

However, not to be outdone by the no photos ruling, I did take a blip from inside the Guggenheim Museum after all - and here it is - a snap of the inside of one of their toilets!!