New York Visit - arrival

Just landed in New York - the city where I was born. My good friend Mayor Bloomberg kindly sent two detectives to ease my passage through immigration and the weekend traffic. All talk here is of Derek Jeter - the Yankees captain who has just set a new record with 2,722 hits. The City is also reflecting on the 8th anniversarry of 9/11. My close colleagues in the NYPD have been recaling their own roles clearing the debris at ground zero, and explained how the death toll is still rising because of of illnesses contracted then that are killing some survivors now. Mayor Bloomberg has paid tribute to "the compassion and selfless acts" which helped the city move on. I'll be visiting the British Memorial Garden, launched in 2003 and opened to the public two years ago. 67 obelisks stand in memory of the 67 British citizens murdered that day. A rose, thistle, flax and daffodil reminds us they came from every part of the UK and the motto says it all: "Reflect, remember, rebuild".