There are 8.4 million stories in The Naked City. This is just one of them...

I'm back in the apartment next to Central Park that is my usual Manhattan pad. I love just stepping back into my New York life: the flat, the building, the neighbourhood, the island. I have actually been off-island once since I arrived just under two weeks ago after spending a couple of days in Dublin. I went over to Brooklyn to see an exhibition of high-heeled shoes called "Killer Heels". The rest of the time I've been in Manhattan mode.

As always, I've been bingeing on films: of those I've seen, I enjoyed Nick Cave's "20,000 Days on Earth" and "Finding Fela" (both with Steve); "Advanced Style" (with Maria); "Pride" (with Pat); "My Old Lady", "The Skeleton Twins" and "Art and Craft". Plus I've seen a fun Jeff Koons retrospective at the Whitney, and exhibitions of lingerie and dance costumes with Pat at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

I'm back running in Central Park about four or five mornings a week, though I had to renege on this morning's six-miler when I got a job overnight that needed to be done before my client in Chennai, India, closed up shop for the day. Always terrific to run with Maria and the rest of the 5:30 a.m. crew: Lissy, Sarah, Joe (I haven't caught up with Heather yet), Stephen and John, and last Saturday with Joanne, Marie, Erica and Chris. Also enjoyed a run last week with Dead Runner Michael.

It's five years since I first spent time in New York (10 weeks in mid-2009). I couldn't have imagined then what a big part it would play in my life. And now I have Budapest in my life as well...

A place I formerly called home, Hong Kong, is in tumult this week with the Chinese-appointed government locking horns with peaceful student demonstrators. There have been surreal images of tear-gas attacks in Admiralty and Central. Tomorrow, October 1, is China's national day and a public holiday. Many thousands of HK people are already joining the protestors. The events are reminiscent of the student protests that took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Hopefully, the Chinese government will stay calm.