Rehoboth Beach - Tales from America

October 5, 2008

We checked out Rehoboth beach today. The usual seaside ware was on disply but it did seem a bit brighter than I was used to. The shops along the beachfront are all very quaint and painted in bright beach colours. The boardwalk on the beach was really impressive. A wide expansive area with a grassy edge. Athena took loads of pics of me in various crazy poses. I think the highlight of today was meeting "Miss Delaware State". She was working in one of the clothes boutiques next to the beach and still had her sash on from winning the competition. What a contrast between the pair of us - she being tanned, petite and dainty looking - me a big, pasty, guffawing english girl!

We ate some corndogs and got some passport photos done at a photobooth. Although when they were developed they turned out to be in black and white and as we'd pulled ridiculous faces the photos now looked oddly staged. On our trip back to DC that evening, we stopped for crabcakes at some chain restaurant. I don't remember the name. The Redskins were playing against the Philly Eagles and surprisingly the Redskins won! Athena said this was highly unusual so I like to think that me buying a Redskins belt down at the beach gave them some luck and had a little to do with their victory.

Arriving in DC - Tales from America

October 3rd, 2008

Arrived in Washington DC Dulles Airport. The queue at immigration was really long. Pretty scary stuff, had to wait in line and tell a very serious looking chap who I was staying with and why! So many questions and I forgot where I was staying and my palms started sweating...shit I was scared but had done nothing wrong! Just the eternal guilt kicking in again I suppose. Customs was much more pleasant, I got my bag and spotted Athena straight away. She'd not really changed much in the eleven years since I'd last seen her in Salzburg..maybe a little rounder and recovering from a kidney infection but essentially she had the same laconic aura of weary worldliness and it was sooo great to see her again! We had to wait a little while for Natalies boyfriend to show up so we sat on the airport floor and caught up on the last decade or so of our lives.

When Paul Pembleton arrived (what an apt name!) he was very irritable, like a bear with a sore head, obviously not the travelling type! He works for JPMorgan in the UK and I think was pretty worried about his job prospects considering the current climate in world banking.