44 1/2

I woke up feeling brutally hungover this morning. I was probably exhausted as well. As we reach the final days of our holiday, I've started to realise quite how tiring the experience has been! Every second of every day has been filled with adventure. San Francisco feels like it happened last year.

We had brunch in a lovely little diner called 44 1/2. It's called that because it's on Tenth Avenue, halfway between 44th and 45th Streets. We were there to meet up with Christopher Sieber and his partner Kevin. Nathan and Christopher were in Spamalot together in the West End and immediately became firm friends to the extent that Christopher actually spent Christmas with Nathan's family. Seeing them is always a treat. We've had some fabulous adventures together over the years. They live on an island, on a lake, in the countryside forty miles outside New York. We have spent many a happy hour out there, swinging on hammocks amongst the humming birds and chipmunks. 

After eating, we strolled down to the Hudson. It was a wonderfully sunny afternoon, and we spent some time running through a fountain like little girls. It was one of those unpredictable fountains, where different jets of water leap out at different heights in myriad patterns. Part of the joy of the game is knowing that you're going to end up soaking wet.

After a blissful few hours, they very kindly drove us up to Knitty City, New York's premier yarn store, where Nathan had organised another one of his "meet and greets." The store had done some publicity to let its customers know that Nathan was going to be there, and we were literally besieged by people as soon as we arrived. The store owners couldn't bring enough chairs out to seat the people who had come. Nathan duly held court, surrounded by a lovely-looking group of adoring lady knitters... and one bloke. There were maybe 30 or 40 of them. The store owner was thrilled. He's becoming quite the knitting celebrity.

I milled around the Upper West Side for a while. I bought a muffin and a cup of tea at a bagel bakery. This particular part of the city is full of wealthy Jewish people and the experience of walking into the cafe was something else! I panic-bought a muffin because everything was so fast-paced and noisy in there. There's a certain type of shouty, brusque New Yorker that you see in the films but don't often find in mid town or down in the village. They all seemed to be in that bagel bakery!

I found myself a bench on a pavement in the middle of the two lanes of traffic on Broadway, by the subway station at 79th Street and spent some time writing postcards whilst the trains rattled noisily underneath me.

After a brief snooze back at the hotel, I went to the stage door of the Book of Mormon to meet the lovely Stephen Ashfield, who's currently over here doing the show. I actually gave Stephen his first job, fifteen years ago, playing Boy George in the show, Taboo. I'm extremely proud of the way that his career has developed and it was wonderful to see him looking so well and happy. We drank in a cafe called Frisson on 47th Street, and were joined, briefly, by some of the others members of the cast, who seemed very jolly indeed.

There are many stage door Johnnies in the US. People take musical theatre so much more seriously over here. Huge groups of people gather at the stage doors to get autographs of and selfies with the cast. Musical theatre is revered in a way which almost makes me want to weep.

We met Ian from the stage door of Anastasia at 6pm and randomly popped into Joe's Pizza to cheekily use their loo. It was a huge surprise and an enormous thrill to bump into one of the waitresses there, who happened to be my old drama school mate, Lesley. I sometimes forget how many good friends I have in this city. I'm hoping to catch up with her tomorrow.

Ian led us back to his house in the very northern tip of the Borough of Queens. Jem and Ian live in a predominantly Mexican neighbourhood where the first language is Spanish and everyone is genuinely tiny! Ian, by contrast, is a very tall, blond man who literally couldn't look more different from his neighbours if he tried. He tells me that the locals are incredibly friendly. There was certainly quite a buzz on the streets.

Jem cooked an exquisite meal which included a quiche, sweet potato chips, a salad and a delicious homemade chocolate mousse with blueberries. I was in heaven for the longest period of time! Conversation flowed. We discussed musical theatre orchestration, Egyptian wigs, Dante's Inferno, Pompeii and call centres. It's hideous that we have to say goodbye to them again for goodness knows how long. Seeing them has done nothing but remind how much I've missed them.