First it was Rudy Giuliani trying to get diplomats to pay for their parking tickets. Years have gone by and these foreign diplomats are still flaunting their diplomatic immunity, and are still not paying the parking tickets. The outstanding tickets have gotten so out of hand that NY Senators had tointroduce legislation just to collect the cash.

Now comes new that UN Diplomats owe NYC as much at $18 million in unpaid tickets.

Guess what? Turns out our reps over in jolly ol’ England living out their anglophilic wet dreams are just as bratty when it comes to the Central London congestion toll.

Thanks to The Observer, I now have a list of my next beach getaways after Belize. The newly compiled list of Top 20 Best Deserted Beaches features hideaways in the usual Corsican, Hawaii, Florida, and Carribean. Interestingly, 3 beaches in Africa also made it to the Top 20.

Today’s City section has an article about how the city’s coffee baristers “serve as impeccable barometers for both the weather and mood of their constituency.” With temperatures in the 70s and peaking in the low 80s these past few days, New Yorkers have been opting for the iced latte.

Along with the iced lattes, shorts sleeves, and the baring of skin, the motorcycles with their mufflers amplified to a million decibels also indicate that warmer and longer days are ahead of us. The colorful Kawasakis, Ducatis, and even the Hawgs are setting off all car alarms in their wake, and deafening ears, as they zip through town. Over in the Gowanus, Nelson’s Hawg House on 12th Street even marked the riding season with a block party BBQ.

Surprise, surprise! A new housing trend is starting up. This time however, isn’t the unearthing and hipster-izing of some forgotten post-industrial neighborhood in the city. It’s not even mish-mashing and jamming of letters from the names of surrounding areas to create a name for the cool, new, up and coming area. In fact, it’s not even urban at all. The new phenomenon is urban flight to the exurbs where for $250,000 to $300,000 can score a nice big house with acres of land.

Karen and I have been discussing on and off about leaving apartment living and the pavements of New York City since 2003. Ideally, we’d move abroad, but if we must be confined to the land between the US borders, a great big house far away from civilization, and close enough to grab a good bite and still see our friends would suit us best. We’ve driven to Beacon, Westchester, Peekskill, and even to Connecticut to explore potential digs, but nothing has bowled us over. There was always something missing about these NY metro areas. An exurbia setting sounds mighty interesting, as it will satisfy our need for some open space for us to stretch our arms and Neena to run without having to be in a strip mall surburb. Maybe when we log in a few years in our 30s. For now, we’ll enjoy the conveniences of walking distance 24hour diners, YMCA, dozens of Mexican joints, and Prospect Park.

Today’s the 29th Annual Five Boro Bike Tour. As a reminder to all participants, bikes and Bud Lite don’t mix.

Prior to this weekend, the last time I went out for a long bike ride was during the transit strike back in December. Riding in the freezing, windy cold just to get to work is a terrible experience. So I’ve been waiting since then to take the bike out for a springtime ride outside New York. We headed over to Bethpage State Park to ride the 22 mile trail. The trail is mostly flat pavement, but does have some breakoff trails for a taste of mountain biking. It’s not challenging at all so we took it slow to enjoy the green scenery. The trail leads into Massapequa Park, circles around a lake, and back into Bethpage. A couple of hours of riding, snapping photos, stopping to look enjoy the clean air, and we were back to Brooklyn for a nice afternoon nap.