Off to Barcelona

Sorry I didn't post when i got home yesterday. Completely fell off the list of things to do. Anyway I got home fine, the flight wasn't great as I was next to a 'large' lady and the lady infront found a way of reclining the chair even further than annoying. I was all kinds of happy. There wasn't much else to the flight. I didnt get alot of sleep but the time flew past pretty quick. It didnt feel like a ten hour flight at all, so I guess that was a bonus.

Someone could have won that yearly photograph contest if they had a picture of me getting out of the terminal with all my baggage. I wasn't happy. And my 7 stone bag wouldn't roll like a suitcase, it just kinda uprighted itself. I got a bus back home which wasn't as bad as it sounds and it only cost £1.50 as apposed to a £40 cab (WooHoo I have a £ symbol now!).

I'm sporadicaly recalling information about the flight now. Probably for the good of myself so if I ever read this again I can remember all the details...

We went out for Teriyaki as my last lunch. It was more than just my last lunch though. The block that Teriyaki is on is being bought out by the Mormans so they can build a super Safeway and appartments. So this Friday (today) is the last day Teriyaki will be open. After that it will be pulled down like the rest of the block. They say they're moving somewhere else in Bellevue. I'll be interested to hear where.

I bought the Snakebite materials on the way back from lunch. It was a good job Jess came with me as I have a little more to learn regarding American Culture. They don't sell 'cheap nasty cider' like White Lightening. So I had to settle for 6 bottles of 'hard cider'. It was the only cider they had and looked as though it could burn a hole in the bottom of the glass! I bought some chep beer ($7 for 12 cans. I don't care where you shop in Hull: That's cheap) and was two thirds the way to making Snakebite with Black. Then we hit an issue: America doesn't have squash. They don't "dilute to taste", they don't "serve up a Robinson", they dont do squash. What I'm trying to say is thy dont concentrate (hehe). But seriously they dont have squash. Jess showed me that they only had frozen concentrate, which Dave later commented was 'the hotdog of picnic drinks'. Basically it's like a Calypo lolly. A cardboard carton of frozen mush that tastes of fruit. The next problem was that they don't have Blackcurrent. In fact if it wasn't mixed with Cranberries two freezers down I would suspect they didnt have them in the states at all. The overall outcome of Snakebite shopping was:
- Hard Cider
- Reeeally Cheap Beer
- Frozen 'Berry' Concentrate

You can see why people looked worried when I put the whole lot in to a fruit bowl (save two bottles of cider) and began to drink it. But it tasted really good. And lot's of people enjoyed it which was a bonus.

Jim wasn't prepared to send a Brit home sober so bought a couple of crates of beer and filled the sink with ice to make a rather attractive make shift bar. I was due to leave with in half an hour of him revealing this so people had to drink fast. We had a small gathering of everone in the office to see me off, had a few pictures taken, shared a joke or two, reminisced for a while and then got kicked out :p

Jess gave me a lift to the airport as she lives out in the same area as the airport. So I got a lift and she got to go home a little earlier so everyone's happy. I met my Boss's wife at Sea-Tac airport by sheer coincidence. She was on the same flight as me in business class under her husbands club card (so I couldn't be invited to the lounge). It was a good job I did meet her as she gave me enough head's up to clear security otherwise I don't think I owuld have got home. I know security is tough but it's a ittle hard to jump through the hoops. On the X-Ray/Metal detector bit, I had to use several trays to put through my hand luggage. One for my coat, my laptop bag, my laptop itself, my hand luggage, my shoes and my personal effects. So I had to do all that and put it ll back on myself in less than one minute! So after Mylee (sp?) scrambled me through security she gotin to the club class lounge and I didnt see her on the flight. It was just weird meeting her at that point, I figured once I had been dropped off I wouldn't see a familiar face till I got home. So that was a pleasant suprise.

Well I've been typing this all morning and I should be sorting myself out for Barcelona. I'll post when I get there, sort myself out and am sufficiently bored.

Anyone now what's Catalan for "I have a reservation under the name Park", and "Sorry officer, I wasn't aware drinking alcohol whilst swimming in a public fountain was against the law".