Back in 1991, when I hit my 40th birthday, Harvey booked a surprise trip to New York for me (my first trip there). We stayed at The Algonquin which was the home of The Round Table. See the list of famous names that used to sit around the table and shoot the breeze and get pissed (that's English for drunk not upset).
I couldn't sleep the first night and just lay thinking about all the things that had happened to me during my life. Expelled from school at 15, left art college after only 3 weeks, married at 16 and mother of a baby boy at 17 all the time trying to become someone but with more obstacles than a hurdle race and that is just a tiny part of it. My life has been what you could call interesting to say the least but it has been a joyous ride.
Anyway back to the Algonquin. I decided that night to write a book about this life of mine and started on it as soon as I returned home. I named it Rat's Tails and Ringlets because my sister had and still has fabulous thick hair and mine is very fine (guess which one is me in the picture). When we were small she was the angel and I was the tearaway and I used to believe that only good girls had nice hair and blamed all my misdemeanors on my hair, crazy but true. The book is still not finished but at least I made a start and those who I have shown it to have laughed until they cried.
So The Algonquin has a place in my heart and every time I return to New York I pop in just to remind me to finish that book.