On a scale of bad timing - finding out your baby boy got admitted to hospital just as you're listening to the stewardess give you the final safety spiel and you're taxi-ing down the run way is not good.
Previous to that latest update - my biggest worry had been missing the England Germany match. I had been praying for some sort of miracle - a mini Heathrow-Specific tornado - a 3 hour delay to the flight to enable full viewing of the match. But it was not to be.
I did request that the pilot keep me updated on the scores through-out the flight - never mind checking the autopilot or which way the plane was pointed. There was a footie match at stake! And not just any match. The most important match in the last 4 years (well - except for Millwall winning in the play-offs). But...the family update just before take-off put everything in a little more perspective.
So...I waited 9 hours til we touched back down before I found out that - despite drips in arms feeding him with antibiotics. He was gonna be ok. Fevers. Boy oh boy. How do kids manage to time them for Sunday nights at 3am? How?
So - here I am again in soggy, humid Houston. Since I got here - it's pretty much rained non stop. And the rain here is big - like the state. Twix-sized rain drops falling non stop for hours on end. This Hurricane Alex has alot to answer for. I packed shorts, shades and sunblock for the weekend - not a rubber dive suit!
One of the guys in the office has taken to driving his tank (seriously - you could fit my VW Golf in it's glove compartment) the hundred yards from the apartments to our office. How I mocked him early in the week. How I laughed. Last night - I saw the error of my ways. A 100 yards dash through a wall of torrential rain. Not good. And - I thought I was being clever. Bringing an umbrella with me. I might as well have walked out with a paper cocktail umbrella over my head for all the use it was.
Still - tonight I shall find beer and sustenance and watch world cup football. And I shall look for July 4th fireworks. Fireworks are man's finest invention. Big exploding colour in the sky. What more could a guy ask for?
Speaking of which - I don't know if the locals here were joshing me - but one of them seemed pretty adamant that only one single vote back in the 1780's swung the balance between the US speaking English or German as the nation's official language. Wow. Imagine that. One vote deciding between a life of bratwurst or bacon and eggs. I guess they landed sunny side up.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment