Grand Central Station

I had brunch today with an environmentalist who I had arranged to meet under the clock in the main concourse at Grand Central Station.  This is one of my more favourite of public spaces in the world.  It has to be one of the most beautiful halls to be found anywhere.  Many famous movies have been filmed in the station including Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest with Hollywood heart throb, Cary Grant.

It's always a thrill for me to stand in that maginficent marbled hall below the impressive painted ceiling.  As I waited, I pretended to myself that I was Robert De Niro who appeared in the 1988 movie, Midnight Run, which included a dramatic scene shot at the station.

When you are old enough, you absolutely must go to Grand Central Station when you are in New York.  You definately won't be dissapointed.

Following an afternoon of shopping -- I buy most of my clothes in New York because I am a fairly average build here, while I often have problems finding my size in Europe -- I had dinner with my good friend Chris Deri and his family on the Upper East Side.

It was a lovely day in my beloved city of New York.


Grandpa Jonathan
New York, USA

My father's birthday

My father, your great grandfather, would have been 86 today, had he still been alive.  He was born in Hull, England on 22nd October 1923, which is a date that I will always remember.  I feel sad that he didn't live long enough to see his beautiful great granddaughter arrive in this world.  I know that he would have loved you very much, and you would have enjoyed his company.  But your father got to know him well and had many good times with him.  As you get older, I am sure he will tell you much about him.

I arrived this morning in New York, your father's birthplace, and am staying here over the weekend.  As I have already told you before, and I no doubt will again and again, I love New York.


Grandpa Jonathan
New York, USA

Penthouse

I awoke this morning to news of the death of Bob Guccione, the founder of Penthouse Magazine, which he started in 1969.  This is not a publication in which you, my dear Yael, are ever likely to have an interest.  But I am sure your father has glanced at a few copies of this men's magazine in his youth.

In the spirit of full disclosure, Guccione's passing attracted my attention because I had a fling with the editor of the UK edition of Penthouse some years ago.  She was an interesting woman who was born in Jamaica and was brought up in Britain.  Her name was Grace Hudson.  She moved to New York where I saw her from time to time.  But I lost touch with her many years ago.

Goodness knows what you will think of your Grandfather having read all of my disclosures. 


Grandpa Jonathan
Chicago, USA

It's a potty world

The Netherlands has long been known as a liberal society where tolerance is central to its culture. Amsterdam's famous 'coffee shops' where legally-licenced cannabis is freely sold is just one manifestation of this progressive nation. But if its new right wing government gets its way, access to the drug may be severely restricted if not stopped all together.

Meanwhile, Californians will go to the polls at the beginning of November to vote on whether to legalise the sale of pot in their state. And if opinion research is to believed, it looks like the majority support this proposal.

This could result in a bizarre reversal whereby the largest state in the USA, a nation that has a long history of intolerance toward to drugs, could be about to allow cannabis to be sold to anyone over the age of 21, while Holland, where weed has been legal for over 30 years may be banned.

Following this debate from Chicago is particularly significant because this is the city famed by Al Capone, the gangster who made millions of dollars by selling illegal, so-called bootleg alcohol. He profited from the introduction of a Federal law which banned its sale, transportation and manufacture. But it was thanks to the underworld that anyone could buy the stuff if they were prepared to flout the law. This ridiculous and almost-impossible-to-enforce measure wasn’t repealed until 1933, during which time society was horribly undermined by terrible violence, corruption and lethally-manufactured alcohol.

Prohibition of drugs clearly doesn’t work either. It’s a gift to the criminal world. Driving drugs underground has not succeeded in making them inaccessible. On the contrary, there is considerable evidence that young people can buy cannabis far more easily that alcohol, if they are underage. Legalising the sale of alcohol in America meant that it could be controlled. The sale of drugs in out of control wherever it’s banned.

While I certainly wouldn’t go out of my way to encourage people to smoke pot, I have long supported proposals to make it legally available. The dangers created by it being controlled by the criminal world far outweigh any possible health risks associated with the drug.

By the time you are old enough to make choices for yourself, I predict that cannabis will be openly on sale in shops in most of the world. I have no doubt that you will experiment with the stuff. That’s entirely normal. But I would urge you to do so in moderation, like with so many things in life, including alcohol.

Your grandfather makes no secret of the fact that he enjoys a joint or two. I’ve been smoking cannabis of many years, and I enjoy it. I treat it in the same way as alcohol. There is a right and wrong time and place for consuming it. We need to adopt an honest approach to cannabis. And always seek the truth from those older and supposedly wiser than you, my dear Yael.

But for now, if your grandfather begins making more visits to California, you’ll know why.


Grandpa Jonathan
Chicago, Illinois (where you can go to jail for a year if found in possession of two gramms of pot)

Uneventful

This has been one of those uneventful days.  Fortunately, they are rare.  I spent much of it preparing a presentation for a law firm that I will be meeting tomorrow.  Without doubt, dinner at a lovely French restaurant called Atwood's on State Street was the highlight.

It was one of those days that, as I return to my hotel room, I so much yearn to be at home.  Right now, I can think of nowhere that I'd rather be than in my own bed.


Grandpa Jonathan
Chicago, USA

Office routine

Having stayed overnight at New York's LaGuardia Airport, I took the 6am flight to Chicago, nicknamed 'Windy City', where I arrived at 7.30am in time for a full day's work at the communications firm with whom I collaborate, Reputation Partners. 

The views of Chicago from my plane window (taken on my Blackberry) sitting magestically on Lake Michegan were spectacular this morning.  The Sears Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the world, stands proudly in the middle of a cluster of impressive downtown skysrapers in the early morning sunshine.  It's in one of those offices that I was to spend my day.

I come here once a month and have my own office.  This is when I feel closer to behaving like a grown up.  I wear a jacket and tie, sit at my desk and attend meetings in the boardroom.  It has been a long time since I have gone to work in an office each day, and is rather differant from much of the rest of my working life.  I'm not at all sure that I could go back to this kind of daily routine for more than a few days.  But I enjoy being here, in the company of friendly and intelligent people.  And I always feel at home with Americans.

It's been a very long day, because I had to participate in a conference call with a client in Asia, which meant my getting up at 3.15am.  I only just had enough time then to take a shower and run for my plane.  So I will surely sleep well tonight.


Grandpa Jonathan
Chicago, USA

Four generations

While taking the first flight this morning from London to Prague, I realised just how much I was looking forward to seeing you; and I found you to be even more beautiful than I had even expected.  There is no prettier grandchild on earth.

I took you, together with your parents, aunt Rachel and your great-grandmother Avis to Solly's restaurant in Golders Green before the lovely tea party that your grandmother Veronica held in your honour at 20 Prospect Road in Childs Hill, where your father grew up.

Of course, everyone was so thrilled to see you, but no one more so that my mother, Avis.  She, too, agreed that you are so very special.  It was particularly moving for me to see her holding you in her arms.  We posed for a photo of four generations spanning nearly 80 years.on the doorstep, where I have many shots of your father and aunt which I always used to take on their birthdays
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I had to dash off for my flight to New York just before the end of the party.  But I don't suppose you even noticed.  I was told later that you were so tired that you found it difficult going to sleep.  No wonder after being the subject of so much attention.  You really are a star.


Grandpa Jonathan
Heathrow Airport, London