On the road again

It is with growing trepidation I travel to the airport. The sky looks burnt. It is a hideous color. I understand that there is a fire from brief news that I heard yesterday evening. However, the traffic speaks to me a different tale. I switch from the swooning sounds of the CD to a local radio staion and more pieces of the puzzle are revealed. This is no minor fire. San Diego is aflame. My home town. It's on fire. And I'm flying away for almost a month. In the airport there are evacuees leaving the city. They have been forced from their homes. They must seek shelter with family in other cities. In other states.

Chicago. The brief newscasts playing on the overhead screens are giving me little information and a lot of speculation. The anchors seem determined to insure the rest of the world that all of Southern California is alight. Calling friends proves useless as nobody is answering the phone. Somebody from work has emailed me telling of an office prank that I have missed and the fact that she's leaving due to the office being closed up. With no valuable information of what's going on, I feel that am on an island. Family members tell me that my area of town has been evacuated. I know deep down that my friends have taken my cat with them when they got the call. I know this, but would feel much better with actual confirmation.

I finally do get a hold of my friends. Seems that they didn't recognize the caller I'd of the international phone I have been issued and didn't take my previous call. I can understand that, as I do the same thing most of the time. Seems they have not been evac'd yet but my cat will go along if the call comes. I tell them where the cat carrier is and am awash with relief. I am asked if there is anything else I want grabbed. It's only stuff, I reply. No point in filling someone else's precious evacuation space with my stuff. It can be replaced. I am not attached to any of it. Sure there are some items that I can't really repurchase; pictures and the like. But most of the stuff can be replaced with something that looks just like it.

The flight to England is the same as it usually is; long. I catch a couple hours of sleep on it. I'm going to need it. I'm going straight into work when I get there.

When I get to the Avis counter, the lady smiles at me and begins to go through the same routine that she has to do hundreds of times a day. We run into a slight problem when she asks for a form of payment. It should be direct billed to the company, I reply. No record of that, she says. They also have no record of insurance. I think the travel agent screwed up. It can't be Avis. I never have a problem with them. I take care of everything on a temporary basis until I can get in touch with the travel agent. If I can...they have probably been evacuated. Walking out to the car brings another shock; This is not a compact vehicle. It's pretty much an SUV. And it's diesel. I'm driving a tank in the land of dime-sized parking spots.

I get to the office and get updated on everything that has transpired in the last couple of days. Looks like it's going to be an interesting first couple of days. The feces is about the hit the oscilator. It's past 4pm here and I'm dragging hard. I was shooting for 7 or 8pm before going to bed. I don't think that's going to be a possibility this trip. I'm about ready to crash out at my desk. So, I call it a day and head to the hotel.

I'm trying out yet another hotel on this trip. The Park Inn. Set in a quiet area of town with an attached pub and restaurant, it's quaint. I check in without any troubles and head to my room. The room is freezing. They've left the window open. I try not to judge the place upon my first impression of the room. I've come to realize that all hotel rooms in England have one thing in common; they pretty much suck. The beds are not especially comfortable. You are given a top comforter to keep warm (and that's it...no sheet). There is no fridge...that seems a foriegn concept to hotels out here. The television gets 10 channels. I go through them manually as the remote doesn't seem to work. There is no real place to unpack into. No dresser of drawers, no shelves. Only a dozen or so hangers. I am quickly reminded that I'm tired. So, I climb into bed to get some sleep. This king sized bed is actually two twin beds lashed together. Wonderful! The middle of the bed has an uncomfortable crack down the center. I'll just have to sleep aware of that. Then I realize that the comforter is actually two twin comforters. I have to lap them over each other so they work better. Off to the land of Zzzzzzzzzz...