The Hamptons Back on the rock today after my highly enjoyable Chicago visit and then a weekend in New York and a couple of days in Connecticut. On Sunday we drove up to the far end of Long Island to fleetingly visit some of the great little towns known as The Hamptons. Judging by the 'for sale' signs and shuttered stores Wall Street's burst bubble has certainly had an affect on the traditional default getaway destination for New Yorkers with big cars and big wallets.

Nonetheless the villages of Southampton, Sag Harbor and Bridgehampton are beautiful beachy enclaves and I still managed to lose count of the number of Ferrari's I saw. We drove out to one of the resident only beaches early Sunday evening to see the huge swells being produced from Hurricane Bill's tentacles out in the Atlantic and it produced a fantastic sight under high nebulous skies. Little dogs with fancy collars and little children with fancy parents were each in turn whooping at the angry ocean.

We then drove across Long Island to get the ferry from the pretty town of Port Jefferson across the Long Island Sound to the lot less prettier Bridgeport in Connecticut. The ferry was easy and saved a 3-4 hour car journey. Our arrival in Connecticut's biggest city represented a landmark for my other half as she collects US states like you and I collect football programmes and she didn't have this one.

We then drove the short journey to New Haven where Yale was to be our base for the tennis. I'll write a bit more on Yale, New Haven and Greenwich where we made a pitstop yesterday on our way back to JFK another day as I have to run to the curry house to pick up the takeaway for my birthday.  ¶ 18:03