Day 4 at the NYC Toy Fair 2007

Very tired, on rising, but we did our morning ablutions and meticulously groomed ourselves as we knew this would be the last time we had a room to ourselves until we reached home. I looked out the window and saw less than a quarter of the traffic in vehicles and humans than usually pass by on 5th Avenue at that time of morning. The weatherman had proved an delphian oracle. The street was several inches deep in ice and snow.

Luckily rain, snow, sleet and hail were not enough to close down the now venerable W Cafe. I ate heartily, as I knew that I would need all the energy I could find for the day or even days ahead. We returned to our hotel, The 373 5th Street Hotel. We had come to be quite fond of the little room that seemed like a refuge in that sea of humanity. But we had to leave it. It was like slipping off a lifeboat into the icy waters while watching the Titanic sinking in the distance. I wondered why we would abandon such a snug craft, and chance the icy waters that had once been the hard concrete streets of New York.

Well, we slung all our baggage on our shoulders and made the long march to Javits. We were dutiful and committed (or should have been committed considering the state of the weather). The ice continued to fall and we strode on through shifting winds as the pinging pellets alternately struck our faces and spurred us from behind. It had built up quickly overnight and was being added to as marched. Some sidewalks had been shoveled, but most had not. The ice in the street was alternately driven on and trod on and soon turned into a muddy mush that turned it into something resembling a giant cola Icee. There were no snowplows in sight. I don't know were they would have pushed the snow had there been any. The walk to Javits, with the heavy duffle on my back, was one of the longest miles I ever have had to walk. The duffle contained not only my wife's clothes (she always packs extravagantly in any case) but also every catalogue we had collected during our previous three days. The accumulated mass, if converted to energy could have propelled any spacecraft for a couple of light years.

When we got to the Javits I saw a Blackberry on the ground. In spite of the weight on my back I stooped to pick it up and brought it to the lost and found. I was sure someone was looking for it at that moment.

We took our last day tour of the Toy Fair. We found a great game called BananaGrams which we really liked playing (at least I did because it allowed me to stop walking for 15 minutes, plus I won!). We will almost certainly get this game for the store. We also found a great plush manufacturer, that I think Robin may add to our line. We currently carry Gund and like a lot of their toys. We also like Noah's Pals, but are still considering whether we want to carry them.

We wandered the booths until the last minute. The Toy Fair was not as deserted as you would have expected considering the weather. We left the ASTRA room at about 2:10 carrying our heavy baggage and marched on to Penn Station, where Amtrack operates in NYC. We met up with several other people who we had met on the way out, including some Amish folk and a lady who was going all the way to California. We fretted for some time that the train would not leave on time. Indeed, it did not, but not as late as it might have been. We got out of NYC at about 4:30.

Robin and I camped out in our seats and alternately, read, ate and slept. We achieved our destination in Cleveland after interminable stops and a frozen engine (all due to the extraordinary weather) only 10 hours late. We knew that the people at home were quite worried, so we gave a call. We had been worried that the roads would be bad, but the foul weather had hit Cleveland the day before and all the roads had been cleared. It was pretty much clear driving all the way home. Back to our beloved town, Harbor Beach, MI.

We saw and learned a lot at the Toy Fair and even had fun along the way. Will we go back next year? Well, at least the year after.

W.J. Rayment is the author of How Not To Build an Addition his wife owns and operates Toy Crossing a toy store in Harbor Beach, MI.