My visit back to the UK improved significantly after the replacement car key showed up (see blogs passim); it turned out that I’d locked the original key in the boot of the car — which was a great relief, because the rental company were talking about charging me £250 – £350 to get all the locks replaced.

I didn’t get to Hunter’s Bar in Sheffield until 11pm, by which time the Lescar Hotel (where I met my friend Nan) was closing. We went to the Porter Brook for a pint, and after that to Napoleon’s Casino. I used to go to Napoleon’s with my father occasionally about 20 years ago, before it burnt down and was rebuilt.

For some reason, blokes kept buying me drinks in Napoleon’s. One guy bought me a Jack Daniels because he was excited that I lived in America, and another guy inexplicably bought Nan & I a £95 bottle of Dom Perignon champagne, in a gesture of largesse almost unheard of in Sheffield!

The next day I visited both of my sisters, Sharon & Vicki, and saw several of my nieces and nephews, including Vicki’s 4-week old daughter Sophie.

Then it was time to head back to London for one last night before the long journey back to Brooklyn (although I was only home for 45 minutes before rushing out to Emily Zuzik’s CD release party at Piano’s).

All in all, it was a fun but rather stressful visit back to the Old World.