FEB-A-7
OF COURSE, THERE SHOULD BE A
LAST-MINUTE GLITCH!
BRITISH AIRWAYS IS
CANCELLING A NUMBER OF FLIGHTS
BECAUSE OF A TERRORISM
ALERT—
OUR FLIGHT, TO BE SPECIFIC!
Including
the one we are booked on! So, with a scramble, we have put together an earlier
flight, rather than finding out that we would have to wait for the next
flight, which turns out to be Thursday!
So,
it seems never to be uneventful, but
eventually, we will try to get where we need to be.
On
an UPPER note, I now have my slides for the most frequently requested lectures
to be given in
I
remembered that I had brought them over to the Dept. of Surgery at the
invitation of the ColoRectal Surgery Division to make a disc through scanning
them in. the first few I tried seemed to work, and they were
stored--irretrievably, as it turns out--on my laptop. I had been meaning
to get back over there and put in some time creating a Power Point package for
these most frequently requested presentations, but I had not, and that is where
I had left the carousels of slides yet to be scanned.
So,
as I made my "last minute connections" I had planned to drive the
Audi down to GWU where I am paying for the parking whether or not used, and it
would be safe, guarded, warm and dry in the winter weather that has made all
vehicles look like brittle salt cakes. When there, I would do my last
minute emails, calls, postal mailings and then go over to the Medical Faculty
Associates, and with the Security Guards or however I could get their office
open, retrieve the slides for the
Voila!
Without even a break in stride, I was able to pick up the slides since none of
the doors were locked, and as long as I had my ID pass visible, I was free to
get whatever I needed. What I needed were two carrousels standing on the
bookshelf where I had last left them, and I am ready now for Kevin to come by
and we go off to IAD after one more call to BA and to IAD to see that our
earlier rearranged flight is actually going to fly.
I
got up before 5:00 AM and dropped audiobooks at the library drop box and made a
stop in the dark at the Derwood mailbox to pick up the last of the mail, and
drove over to pick up Joe early and cold. We drove to Ken-Gar, where we
were the only vehicle at the usual runner rendezvous point, and we ran a hard
run alternating with a slower pace, the "fartlek" for the middle
third of our workout. I had picked up at the door at Derwood the new
"Pump" running shoes where they had been dropped by UPS just before
my takeoff, and I am to be testing these in the next weeks. They felt
like bedroom slippers when I put them on, but they automatically pump up for an
air cushion. This was good when I first put them on. In our harder
longer run this morning, the counters of the heel cushion chafed right through
the skin of my lateral malleoli on both sides, so the freshly laundered socks
were all bloodied. So, I stopped at Joe's house for a shower and a couple
of Band-Aids, washed, and wrung out the socks, and with the gear I had put into
the Audi the night before all ready to go, I changed into traveling costume,
and drove to Kevin's house where I offloaded both bags, only partially filled
for each, and my carry-on bag with all the tickets and gear I would need for
the trip, the latter including all my unexposed film and tapes.
So,
now, from GWU which will keep the car, keys, phone and my winter coat, I am
ready to roll--with still a question as to whether we will be flying.
That I will know in a few hours as Kevin and his girlfriend Isabel come by with
the bags I had just dropped for their Explorer transport, and Isabel will
"standby" as we attempt to check in, returning with whatever excess
baggage we are not allowed---or, for that matter--possibly US, if the rumors
are true that there will be no BA flights today, even the earlier one on which
we had switched last night with the cancellation of the later flight for which
we were ticketed and pre-programmed.
For
a lot of people--allegedly 85 million Americans to be glued to their respective
tubes--this is Super. Sunday. OK, it may be for us too.
Bon
Voyage, if "voyage" there be!