I visited Washington DC in late 1987 as a guest of a family friend who is English but lives in Virginia (overlooking, if you lean far enough out on her balcony, the Pentagon). She kindly offered to put me up for a few days and we discovered a shared interest in travel photography (she is the original germinator of the seed of this website).

Washington is a city of contrasts: the fine, restored and beautifully maintained historic items on the Mall, including the White House, versus the high percentage of poor black people living in a ring around the more affluent white centre. This is what I have noted in the USA: where there are poor people they are more likely to be poor black people. This is at it's most pronounced in the South, because of the entrenched social attitudes (not just amongst the white folk) resulting from a history of slavery. Quite how something that was abolished 150 years ago can have such a huge effect upon the country now escapes me, but it's unavoidable. Having been a departmental and Divisional manager in a large Corporate, I am very aware that in a work environment you cannot be less than professional and have to be colour-blind when recruiting and managing: I managed to recruit and manage people of all colours without prejudice - why can't others?

My kind friend took me to Bilbo Baggins, where we had what I can only describe as the most beautifully-cooked lunch I have, to this day, ever eaten (and I'm married to a Cordon Bleu trained chef, so I know what good food is).

We also visited the ...Cathedral, that they have been building since 19xx. The cathedral is on the same scale as the large 15th and 16th Century cathedrals in France and looks very similar, but is brand spanking new. I can't believe that in America, of all places, and in the late 20th Century, of all secular ages, they are building a cathedral on this scale. The only equal I can imagine is La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, and that's as much a work of art as a Cathedral. It's as if America were trying to make up for it's inequalities and secularity by building this outsized offering to God.

I visited New York in early 1988 as a guest of some expat friends: Charlie and Fi Clark, who lived a couple of blocks down from Central Park in a beautiful apartment on the 22nd floor.

We packed a lot in to a long weekend: but my abiding impressions were of the intense cold caused by the funnelling effect of the wind through the canyons between the tall buildings, and the Blade Runner-like lack of direct sunlight at street level, even at midday. The steam emerging from underground pipes is a well-known (from anyone who has watched Kojak) part of New York life, but the traffic and the crime wasn't like it was portrayed on the TV.

New Yorkers were efficient: they have a reputation for being rude, but in real life they are just adapted to living in a big city: they get on with their own lives and don't want to communicate with anyone else. It's their way of coping with the crush of urban humanity they encounter constantly the moment they step out of their door. I wonder if Indians are similar?

My hosts, being English, existed in a social set entirely unconnected with anything American. They could have chosen (although they didn't) to surround themselves entirely with British people, and to have no social contact with Americans. Up to that point I had no concept of the size of the UK expat community in New York. The vast majority of them are in the finance community, the big surprise being that more Brits were not killed in the Trade Tower bombing of 11 Sep 2001.

All the stereotypes are there: the thrusting, arrogant Wall Street banker a la "greed... is good" Gordon Gekko; the homeless sleeping, wrapped up in newspapers, on the doorsteps of the big hotels and apartment blocks; the arrogant apartment block doormen in sharp uniform and peaked cap; the taxi drivers like spaced-out Christopher Lloyd in the series Taxi; the whistle-toting traffic cops, the befurred NYC lady shoppers with multiple poodles and stiletto heels.

I wasn't as shocked by the homeless as I thought I would be: there are as many living in London, and whilst New York is colder in the winter (I mean, if I was homeless, I'd go and be homeless in Florida, where at least I wouldn't have to worry about freezing to death at night, and could wash on the beach) these people are homeless for a reason, which is usually alcohol, gambling, drugs or mental illness. You can have sympathy, but ultimately they are there through their own actions, not through anything I have done. Golders Green in London has beggars, as does the Underground, but if they can afford to run a dog, and to smoke, then they can hitch themselves up a rung. There are plenty of charitable organisations to help them, they just have to go half the way and commit to improving their lot.

Manhattan is not that big, and you can (Americans, of course, don't.....) walk around it. It's a bit of a hike from Wall Street to Central Park but it's not going to kill you. I saw people hailing taxi-cabs to go 200 yards......

The traffic wasn't as mind-numbing as I was led to believe, but there was no on-street parking anywhere, and 9/10 cars were taxis. And, of course, you had to cross the roads at the lights. And the lights had to be green, or you could be ticketed for Jaywalking. How cute. And how ridiculous. If the road's clear, go.

The World Trade Centre Towers were stupendous: I did the tour and the views were magnificent. I still have the introductory leaflet (which is probably worth some money now the towers are down).