Saturday, May 14, 2005

Rushing Home

No pun intended, but I hope today flies by! I am so tired but have never really been able to sleep on airplanes. Why am I tired?

Well, last night, my last evening in the UK, my coworkers and I decided to go out for Curry at the Rose in Thames Ditton. It was quite nice. I had a curried lamb with spinach, garlic and tomatoes. Everyone had a pleasant time. One of the highlights of that portion of the evening, though, was when we all started telling jokes and had to explain a majority of them to one of our party. He claimed that he could not hear us, but I think it was our accents were not the type he has. Of course, it could be that, being from Russia natively, he just didn’t see why the jokes were funny. And it wasn’t just my jokes, all of us at the table had to explain our jokes and the remaining three of us seemed to enjoy the jokes (on the whole) that the others told. Well, it was all in good fun.

Curry Still Life
I then returned to the hotel and decided I needed to back immediately. So, of course, I went to the pub. After first leaving a wake-up call, I went over to the pub for the last bitter ale of the trip. Since a number of my friends where there, an ale turned into a couple ales which turned into three when it was time for me to go and so we stayed there in the pub chatting and talking about what we should do when next I go to the UK in July. They even made sure that I left with a memento of my visit: beer glasses I didn’t already have! What can I say? I think they like me there!

Not being a total moron, when I got back to my hotel at midnight, I immediately made myself a cup of cocoa and set-about packing. I was in bed by one; everything but my shaving gear, my pajamas, and the clothing I am now wearing safely packed up and ready to go.

This morning, I was up before the wake-up call came and was in the lobby sipping my first cup of coffee when the car service arrived at 06:30. (He was not due until 07:15.) It was not as if we were in a hurry. I mean I am really looking forward to getting home and seeing Kathi who will be picking me up from the airport, and then getting home to Saga and my own place tonight! But that was no reason the car service driver had to zoom down the M25 going in excess of 100 MPH! I guess he had other fares to collect this morning, I do not know but we made it to the airport just after 07:00 and for an 11:00 flight even I think that is a little early.

The captain informs us that there is a tailwind most of the crossing so we will be getting into Cincinnati early. The travel gods appear to be grinning on me! I will be home before I know it.

Good thing too! I have already seen the movies that are scheduled to play on the crossing and I have almost finished the book that I have with me! I hope that this is a smooth flight and I hope that I will get a chance to sleep, but as I have said, I almost never am able to sleep on planes!

I hope your travels through life treat you as well and that you have a pleasant arrival at your destination!

Don Bergquist – 14-May-2005 – Somewhere Over the North Atlantic

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