I am in New York, the city that never sleeps. Particularly if you live in the Meatpacking district. Despite the strong and pervasive stench of rotting flesh, the Meatpacking district is still the hottest area in Manhattan, even among vegetarians. Stella McCartney opened her first New York store bang in the middle of it. I guess she holds her nose every time she visits.

If you were going to be unkind, you would say that there is something bridge and tunnel about the Meatpacking district. Just like Hoxton, it has been over-run, particularly at weekends, by out of towners, the men in black suits and the women all sleeveless black dresses, slingbacks and washerwoman arms. They come in gaggles, and they trot down the street making a real din, their voices shrill with excitement at the prospect of banging into Sarah Jessica Parker or whoever. As indeed they might. One of the best things about New York is the very real possibility of seeing a bona fide celebrity, as opposed to somebody off Big Brother. Only last night, I saw Robert de Niro at dinner. Which was nice.

Yesterday, I went to have my bi-annual manicure and pedicure. I never have these done in London, for the simple reason that it would cost about a week’s salary. At the excellent Soho Nails (West Broadway, next to the Aveda salon), it costs $23. Yes, $23 (that’s approximately £14) Let’s just pause and consider this for a moment. In London, it costs £15 ($28) for a manicure ALONE, while at the smarter salons (eg Bliss) it would cost £85 for both. If you asked a New Yorker to pay $150 for a mani and a pedi, they would laugh. And you would shortly go out of business.

Soho Nails was excellent as always, and I thoroughly recommend it if you are ever in New York with grotty nails.  The only downside was that the woman doing my pedi said “Yavacad?” to me shortly after I’d sat down, which meant nothing to me, and when I asked “pardon?” she simply repeated herself, and I was too embarrassed to say “pardon” again and so instead took a gamble and replied with a breezy “Just a basic pedicure, thanks.”

Afterwards, though, I sat in the chair and fretted. What if “yavacad” meant “are you on holiday”, or “do you come here often”? And I had replied by saying “just a basic pedicure, thanks.” That would be tantamount to rudeness, akin to saying “just shut up and do your job, bitch - I don’t want to talk to you.”

To compensate, I left a gigantic tip.

I still don’t know, and possibly never will, what “yavacad” meant.