Good Morning Big Apple

I’ve just woken up from one of the longest and most satisfying sleeps I’ve had in months. The room I’m in is quiet – all I can hear is the gentle whirr of a machine outside, and the occasional chirruping of a passing bird.

To my right through the open door I can see an incredible apartment stretching away into the distance with its acres of wooden floor lit by the sun drifting in through the large loft windows. No-one else is awake yet and the huge space feels calm and still.

It’s our first morning in New York City. We got here yesterday afternoon after a fourteen-hour journey. Our friend Jake arrived at the castle very early to drive us to the airport. The eight cases containing the whole of Biscuit Land were quickly stowed in the van, then Jolie, Rachel, Leftwing Idiot, Chopin and I jumped in, and we were on our way.

Air travel with Tourettes is sometimes tricky. But yesterday’s journey was smooth, and the on-board crew made me feel very welcome. I was particularly nervous about making it safely through US immigration without ticcing anything provocative. When I went to the American embassy to arrange my visa a few weeks ago my ticced instructions to the armed police outside included: “Shoot me in the foot” and “Give me the gun” – thankfully they ignored me. Amazingly we made it safely through border control without any major issues and headed for Brooklyn.

We drove through the city to our apartment. I’ve been to New York once before, as a teenager, but haven’t been back since, so seeing the famous skyline swing into view in front of us was extremely exciting.

We arrived in Brooklyn in the late afternoon and stepped out into gentle sunlight on the sidewalk next to our new home (an old piano factory). We were all speechless when we got through the door. The space is genuinely awesome – a huge comfortable loft with a very high ceiling and beautiful floors, enough sofas for us to have one each, and a table long enough to seat twenty.

IMG_0833image1-1The bedrooms are set off the main space and each of these is equally beautiful and comfy. The space will be ours for the next week as we share Backstage In Biscuit Land with US audiences for the first time.

After settling in we headed for a nearby restaurant that Leftwing Idiot knew about. We ate delicious food outside, followed by an eye-wateringly sweet cake from the shop next door.

By then we’d been awake for almost twenty hours and were flagging, so we headed for home and bed.

I can hear the others getting up now and filling the apartment with morning activity. We’ve got today off before preparing to open the show on Thursday evening at BRIC Arts Media in Brooklyn.

I’m really excited about what the next few days have in store for us and I’ll be sure to keep you posted.

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