An Island adventure

Having spent last Monday visiting new schools it was time to actually start working at them. Today's one was on Staten Island. I was pleased to note that near the school there was an express bus stop. Great! Wrong- they don't start running in that direction, ie Manhattan to Staten Island until later in the morning. It takes about an hour at least on the bus, depending on traffic, so the 7:30 am express bus wouldn't get me to the school before 8:30am and given that they start at 8:02 (don't ask me why that precise time) then I wasn't going to be able to catch the express bus there.
So it was time to check out the internet and hopstop. That was an adventure in itself too trying to get the quickest, shortest combinations of train and /or bus and /or ferry.
The decision came down to the "1" train to South Ferry, the Staten Island Ferry and then a taxi- this would all take about 1.5 hours so given that my departure time was 6:30!!! Sparrows weren't even up let alone f**ting!
But in true either "Pollyanna style" or "Stephen Covey- the only person you can change is yourself style I decided my attitude to it all needed to change and so it became the next step in the big adventure that is education consultancy in New York City.
It was my first time on the Staten Island Ferry. I didn't even know how to find where it was once I got to South Ferry but did the usual commuter thing- followed the crowd. I didn't even have to go outside- it's all linked very nicely thank you very much.
The ferry ride was quite peaceful- no stopping and starting for 29 minutes or so and there wasn't too large a crowd. The crowd steamed off in Manhattan before we boarded. I was on the wrong side to see the Statue of Liberty (duffer) but I had a grand view of the Verrazano Bridge. Although the windows were so salt laden it was difficult to get a really good view (on the camera) of anything.

Once off the ferrry there was a rather nasty time with acquiring a taxi- I know the drivers have to make a living but being "stalked" at that time of the morning (at any time really but early on a Thursday morning) is pretty yucky. I eventually gave in to one of the greater stalkers and actually had a decent trip to the school.
By this time I felt I'd done a day's work already but still had to work- and work hard I did. The leadership team of the school spent the day with me working through what they do and what plans they have and ways we can develop them further.
Then it was time to make the return journey. The literacy coach offered to drive me to the ferry- how nice was that given that it was about 20-25 minutes away. She said she used to visit her sister on Staten Island when she was living in Manhattan and basically said it was a "water bag and compass trip".
This time I sat on the side that would give me views of the Statue of Liberty. It was such a grey rainy day that the views were murky but she is still an inspirational thing to see. I got home about 5:30 and had to do my photocopying for the Assistant Principal network workshop but even so that couldn't take away from the great feeling of achievement I had in getting to and from Staten Island- only 14 more trips to do!