Due to the traffic I arrived in New York at 7.00 pm -- an hour late. The meeting I went to New York for was scheduled to start at 7.00 so I wanted to get there quickly.
Friday night is not a good night to be in a hurry on Times Square: it is crowded with people and virtually impossible to get a cab. I had to go 51st Street and to make sure I wouldn't start running in the wrong direction I called the only person I know who in two seconds can accurately tell you what direction to go to in Manhattan. Jonathan told me to go to 6th Avenue, and I made it right on time for the annual meeting of the PvdA that was held in the Netherlands Club.
Last week I found the site of the PvdA New York, a Chapter of the PvdA, a national political party in the Netherlands.
There were three guest speakers. The first one was Ruud Koole, chairman of the national organization, followed by Ad Melkert and Bernard Mucci. It was very nice to see these familar faces in the U.S. I especially liked the speech by Ad Melkert. He is an executive director of the World Bank now, and was the parliamentary leader of the PvdA a few years ago.
The chair of the local PvdA chapter started the evening with a good speech, followed by Ad Melkert. Mr. Melkert referred to a proposed immigration bill by McCain-Kennedy.
All speakers mentioned Van der Louw and Adelmund, two prominent members of the PvdA who passed away last last week.
The third guest speaker was Bernard Mucci, an ex-Tyco executive who described the work of the charity he is now working for, the United Negro College Fund. It was an interesting evening, and certainly worth the bus-ride (English summary). At the end of the evening I bought the book that was presented.
I was starving -- it was almost 22:00 o'clock and I hadn't had dinner yet, nor a very good lunch. It was a Friday night so I allowed myself a burger-with-fries meal in T.G.I. Friday's.