Thur and Friday Pleasantville

I ventured into the Post Office again on Thursday morning only to be ‘greeted’ by Ms Grumpy again. She spoke really fast telling me that she couldnot possibly answer questions because there was a queue etc etc. I was trying my best but got nowhere so I left her window, stood and thought – I wanted to walk out but I really did want to send the 2kg or so of stuff. I rejoined the queue, waited till I got the other lady who must have heard what was going on . She was extra nice, worked it all out, gave me the box and custom form and said quite clearly to come back to her window. I filled it all out, rejoined the queue and when I got to her window, she said ‘Oh, you did not have to queue up again’. I shrugged. When I thanked her and left, her eyes and head nod clearly said sorry for Ms Grumpy. The experience has just highlighted how friendly and helpful everyone else has been.

In the afternoon I caught the train to Pleasantville – a village in the Hudson Valley, just East of the Hudson River about ¾ hour by train North East of New York City. I was met at the station by John’s elder sister’s husband’s cousin.and taken to her and her husband’s home 1 ½ miles away on the edge of the village. John had met these lovely, vey hospitable people. Their good friend also came for dinner and to stay the night. I had met her before . The evening - good company, delicious food, - passed very quickly. All 3 have led very interesting lives in many different countries.

On Friday morning, after pancakes and fruit, we went for a walk in the nearby Rockefeller Estate. This is a working dairy farm but with many acres of public woods. The green of the leaves and grass is much brighter than I am used to.

For lunch we went to an interesting place called the Stone Barn. This was part of a large estate that grows lots of organic food, has farm tours, kids camps, a fancy restaurant and a café with nice food that we went to. Then we went to a place on the Hudson River where there used to be a large residence but now there are only some retaining walls left – and the lovely view and the magnificent huge old trees. After that we went to visit one of the daughters of my hosts in her new home. After a drive around some of the streets of Pleasantville and a cup of tea it was time for the return train journey. It was a lovely day – windy and cold, but sunny. It was good to have the company of people who knew of me and my background and had been to Australia in the middle of my time away on my own.