Who was it who said that if you've got time to write a diary, you probably haven't got anything interesting to write in it? Maybe that was just a general comment that came from anyone who felt they couldn't really be bothered to write one. Whatever the case, I'm certainly facing the difficulty of sitting down to write about what's been happening, when the general timetable since leaving Illinois has been to drive all day, find somewhere to eat at about 6ish and then get into a motel at 8 and battle with the quirks of that particular motel's internet connection to plan and organise where we're going to go the next day before dropping dead at about 11pm. However, we have stayed in our current location for a couple of days in a row now, though not in the same motel, and that's given me a teensy bit of time to sit and write something now.
Back at the start of our journey, we had all sorts of airport delights to deal with. Not least being in the nondescript surroundings of Prague airport at 5am. 5am is truly a miserable time to be awake and trying to function. And Prague airport isn't exactly entertaining or comfortable.
But when we got to Schipol in Amsterdam it was a little easier to cope, being that there were several eccentric little shops
and more comfortable seating and even a library! Woohoo!
The flight to Chicago was a battle of the mind. I decided to cope with being boxed in in tightly packed seats for the 8.5 hour flight by sleeping for as much of the beginning of it as possible, to help me get on Chicago time. This meant missing the main meal but was probably better for my tummy that way. I watched the latest Muppet movie and was rather disappointed with it, but it helped to divide up the time and eventually we were on our descent and we got in a tiny bit ahead of schedule.
Getting through security was ok in the end, though we did have to wait in the long queue of 'scum', i.e. non-residents, for about 40 minutes. And they've got all our fingerprints now. So they can track us down. Which is a bit of a worry considering we almost got ourselves arrested when we took photos in a supermarket in the suburbs of Illinois the next day.
Two security guards (yes, two!) came over to us and said that some customers had been a bit concerned about why we were taking photos in a supermarket. So my Mum jumped in before either of us could say anything, to reply, "Oh it's just that they're from the Czech Republic and they were amazed at how big everything is here and how much there is! They were really surprised at how big the watermelons are and the rows and rows of chocolates." To which the security guards, stunned by compliments about the abundance of America, said, "oh ok Ma'am" like little puppies lapping up praise and apologising for almost missing out on it. I just stood there and smiled and inwardly thought how incredible it was that they had automatically taken everything my Mum had said at face-value.
So there you have it. Paranoia and a failure to recognise irony is alive and well in the State of Illinois. God bless America.
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