The city that never sleeps

I've just flown in from another three days working in New York. Heathrow was in chaos. Incredibly heavy rainfall yesterday had resulted in the cancellation of 141 flights. People were queuing in every terminal waiting to be rebooked on alternative flights. The weather could not have come at a worse time. Yesterday was the first day of school holidays nationwide, with thousands heading off for sunnier locations.

Today's paper says that an inch of rain fell in an hour in many places causing surface flooding around the London region. The M5 motorway going West was closed as were other major roads leading out of London. Several Underground stations were also closed due to flooding. We've been warned to expect more flooding. Record rainfall in June has left the countryside saturated. Fresh rain simply flows across the surface now rather than soaking into the ground. Bookmakers are slashing the odds that this will become the nation's wettest July on record.

The weather wasn't any better on the opposite side of the Atlantic this week. On Wednesday morning I was woken early in my hotel by the most deafening thunderstorm and torrential rain that pelted down for hours. Despite the rain, the traffic and pedestrians continued to flow. My hotel was located a block off Times Square. Here the city quite literally never sleeps. After visiting for years I'm still amazed by the crowd on the street no matter what day it is, or what time of day.

The biggest news event in New York this week was an enormous mid-town steam pipe explosion. A aging steam pipe on Lexington Avenue, about a block from Grand Central Station exploded creating a car-swallowing crater during rush hour. One person was killed. The first I knew of the today's drama was at Union Square subway station. All the lines travelling up the east side had been suspended and station officials were directing commuters away from the platform.

Tomorrow I fly to Munich to deliver a cultural training workshop for a client travelling to Japan. Tomorrow is also, my niece, Nicole's birthday. I'll be joining the family for one last celebration in Europe before making my way back to Munich for work. This client assignment is an unexpected bonus as I hadn't anticipated I'd see my parents again this year after saying farewell in Oslo

It seems a life time ago that I was in Graz enjoying a weekend with the family. The lobby of Graz railway station can be seen below. Riding an escalator up into this vista is a memory I won't soon forget.

The travel continues next week. I'll be back in London again on Monday evening. Garry and I then be counting down the hours to our much needed 2.5 week holiday in the USA and Down Under. Our first stop is Orlando. I'll have crossed the Atlantic four times in little more than a week. The weather report looks promising!