5th June 2002

Part one * The before time *

I'm currently able to remember next to nothing of what I did before Saturday. Believe it or believe it not I am having to try very hard to remember what I did just 7 days ago. I believe that I didn't do much on Monday. I went round to Sarah's parents house where she was cat-sitting after work on Tuesday. I played badminton as usual on Wednesday. I didn't do much on Thursday. I was going to pack, but for some reason this mainly didn't happen. On Friday, the World cup started and I watched the opening game at the 'So Bar' pub near work during my lunch break. Well the first half anyway. In the evening I saw the second Star Wars film at the cinema and went back to preparing for the trip. As far as I remember I spent far too much time sleeping on underground trains last week.

Part two * The during time *

Saturday, Sunday and Monday I was in the USA. I landed at Dulles airport (Why is pronounced Dallas?) meaning I have now stepped foot in four American States. Those being Virginia, where Dulles is located, Maryland, Pennsylvania and of course Florida. Only forty-six left to go now. I guess I'm not doing too badly so far, four in eighteen months.

Saturday was mainly spent queuing. I spent an hour in line to check-in at Heathrow. Had to queue for security clearance. Queue to be seated at TGI Fridays where I had a breakfast of Bacon Cheeseburger and Stella to drink. I was one of the last people to be allowed onto the flight so I decided just to sit down and wait for everyone else to get on board. Who wants to be cramped on a plane longer than they have to be huh? Then the aeroplane had to wait at the gate for up to 90 minutes after scheduled de parture time for some reason or other. I was lucky enough to sleep most of my way through this. Then the aircraft had to wait for the runway behind about seven other aircraft. When we did arrive in Washington there was another massive line for immigration. It appears the immigration forms are too tricky to fill out for a lot of people, which held us all up. I spent less than 60 seconds at the immigration desk itself. Enough time to check that I can remember who I am and that I have not said that I am a criminal. If only everyone else could have been dealt with that quickly. Customs thankfully didn't delay me any longer than it took to hand the officer my customs card.

The entertainment system aboard the plan was fantastic, with twenty movies to choose from as well as dozens of TV shows and games. All could be watched whenever you wanted to watch them instead of the usual cycles.

After the drive back from the airport and some time getting ready Erin and I headed out with her father and his wife to a Chinese buffet, which was very nice. I wish I had have been more hungry so that I could have eaten more. We went 'home' afterwards, I got to meet the rats and the other animals before going to bed. I was very tired.
Sunday was a very relaxing day in comparison; we headed out to the inner harbour of Baltimore, Maryland. It was a gorgeous day weather-wise and we managed to hit a number of malls and go to the Hard Rock café as well as the large aquarium there. We spent time relaxing and having fun before heading back. Erin and I made a great team as navigator and driver and we got back without too many problems. Although one excursion to use a bathroom was far less easy than we had imagined it would be.

In the evening we saw Dawn and her little girl Jade, Erin's friends. That was very cute. We stopped off at Blockbuster video and rented 'The Others' and went home to see it. Unfortunately I fell asleep half way through so don't know what happened towards the end with is irritating.

Monday was a weird kind of day. We got up, took the rental car back to the garage, went to see Erin's mum and her husband and messed with the computers there. Then I popped into Wal-Mart and then we all went to Uno's in Haggerstown before going back to Dulles.

The airport was kind of cool, but of course it was a place of goodbyes so there were all sorts of emotions running high at this point. The over-riding one however was one of love for Erin and happiness that I had gotten to spend some time with her even though it was short.

The flight was uneventful although I got some great views from out of the window and was unable to get any duty free or to the toilet. The aircraft was the same one that had brought me to Dulles.

Part three * the after time *

I arrived home to see what I think was the cleaning up after a street party in the road around the corner from mine. The road was almost completely unrecognisable through all of the flags and banners.

I had planned to stay awake as much as I could during the day, to make some calls and to buy an alarm clock that I had been meaning to buy all weekend and had completely forgotten about. Instead I slept. I woke up with barely enough time to go to Argos and pick-up the alarm clock. Arriving at the store literally just ten minutes before it closed.

In the evening I did my best to get back to a normal sleeping pattern by staying up and visiting Del and Jo. We saw the film 'What Women Want' and chatted for a while.

And now I'm back at work after the four day weekend and wishing many things, none of them involve being here right now. The weekend was the Golden Jubilee weekend, in case you are wondering, which meant most of the country got the time off to celebrate. I'm so non-patriotic!!