"NYC, Millennium Broadway Hotel, lobby bar, 9:07 PM. Okay. Yes sir; yes sir indeed. Fortieth floor room with a corner view; I face the illuminated clock of the Paramount Building, almost dead on; and you cannot imagine the whoop I gave out when I discovered that. Last time I was here I had a view of a ventilation shaft spattered with pigeon crap - a genuine New York view, in other words. This time I face the Conde Nast building - one of my employers, as it turns out - and the side window looks down on the lurid canyons of Times Square. Best. View. Ever."