Changing seasons in Manhattan

I arrived back in Manhattan on 1 October after whistle-stop visits to Bologna (to catch up with my Bali/Berlin/Brighton Beach (NY) pal, Diane, for lunch), Milan (for an early-morning flight) and Reykjavik (where I had dinner with Maggy). En route to New York from Iceland we flew over the southern tip of Greenland, which looked extraordinary from the air on a cloudless day. Snow and ice everywhere: massive sweeping glaciers, iceberg-filled bays, occasional lone towering icebergs that looked huge even from 35,000 feet; god knows how big they were below the waterline ...

I've been focused on my workload and marathon training for the past fortnight. I got straight back into doing morning runs with the 5.30 a.m. crew of Maria, Susan, Sarah, Lissy, Joe, Heather, Stephen, Sun and occasionally Natalie and Andrea. I get a lot of value out of my mornings, which start at 4 a.m. I usually answer emails for an hour relating to projects I'm working on before heading out into the dark – and, now, the cold – to catch a cab over to Engineer's Gate at 90th Street and Fifth Avenue to meet Maria and the others.

Last weekend I ran the Staten Island half marathon. Went over on the ferry with Susan and came back with Maria. My time was 5 minutes slower than last year, but I really enjoyed it.

I've caught only a few films – "Diana Vreeland: The Eye Must Travel" (fabulous); a new "Wuthering Heights" (with Sarah); and "Smashed" (with new friend Diane, an actor/singer/songwriter). Great to see some friends made earlier in the year, including Gary, Daniel and Anne. Had dinner with Lisa before she headed back up to Woodstock for the film festival, and breakfast with Caroline, who is moving to Vermont... A former neighbour from Albury, Kate, was in town and we had dinner last weekend.

Diana Vreeland

Last week I had a massage from Marie, and a consultation about my leg injury from Iceland (sustained on the first day of the trek when a heavy bench fell on my leg)... It's actually a bit of a worry, which I'll follow up on when I'm back in Kuching.

I've made friends with a dog in the building here: Max is a 4-year-old poodle x havanese. A gorgeous boy. His owner Ellen is very involved with Central Park PAWS, which I heard about two years ago when I wrote an article called "Walkies in Central Park" for a newspaper in Australia.

Max

Another week of hard work and I should be able to take some time off ...