All dressed up and everywhere to go

Dressing in New York is a serious thing. The shop windows are works of art, salads are sold with with a myriad of dressing choices and everyone on the street is dressed with care and thought. The young women are smart and practical - trench coats, tailored skirts, neat bright scarves, huge expensive bags - while the older women really understand the notion of quality. There's lots of Ferragamo and Burberry amongst them, lots of small elegant handbags.

No self respecting dog in New York goes out unadorned either. Tonight I saw a small Wheaton terrier in a yellow vinyl raincoat and, a few blocks on, a Highland terrier in a red hooded sweater with matching red booties. The booties make me stare but no one else here seems to think it's strange to put shoes on a dog. The best dressed dog I've seen was a Jack Russell terrier who wore a blue striped sweater and toning goggles. His owner said he (the Jackie) doesn't like the glare. Well, who does.

The young men all wear their trousers around their thighs. They walk like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins when he dances with the penguins. I find it flabbergasting yet curiously stylish. It can't be comfortable but it looks...well, modern. Defiant.

Baya, pictured below, is one New Yorker who hits the street in without a stitch on. His own covering is glorious enough. According to his owner. Baya was born on St Patrick's day and is thrilled that the city has a parade in his honour on his birthday. Baya is also very particular about daily exercise. He gets extremely agitated if he is not taken for his walk at 2pm every day. He supervises three cats who also live in his apartment and they are the prime targets for his frustration if the walk is delayed.

And none of this riding on the shoulder for Baya. He takes his walk on a perch.

This morning we went the Air and Space Museum which is housed on the Intrepid. Two wonderful things (not involving disco fries, sadly) happened there: I got to board the Concorde, and Neil Armstrong was giving a talk. For the record, he was wearing a very handsome navy pinstripe suit.