London, UK
Speaker's Corner. Rainy and Cold. I had no umbrella, only my new flannel shirt. I got up late and went to Hyde Park, Marble Arch Tube stop. I walked out to Speaker's Corner. I saw many, many speakers. Racist, Sexist, Homosexual, Palestinians, Socialists, Peruvians for Freedom. Flannel green shirt soaked with cold rain. I stood three hours in the rain. I listened to the Socialist party members first, old men with spittle on their lips and telling me to change England to a wageless system. Many people were bitter towards their ideas. People with umbrellas. Then I listened to the Racists and the Sexists, a black man from New York in a dress. A lot of boasting. Then Palestinians talking about killing the American and Israeli Terrorists. Waving his arms and body. Harsh words on a tall ladder with a flag blowing behind him. I listened to some Christians and agreed with an Islamic Scholar. The Christian on a small ladder asked if I believed in Christ. I explained why I didn't.
I took the tube back to the hostel and had a warm and well-deserved shower and a meal, complete with roast lamb, a roast potato, and boiled cabbage. Then I wrote all this. Now off to Rachel's College.
I had problems on the tube getting to High Street Kensington from St. Paul's, because the normal line was blocked off for construction. I got to Rachel's dorm at 19:30. She was on the phone with Adam, so she left me waiting in the lobby until 20:00. When she did come, we talked in her room with Mary Ellen, her room-mate, and Allysa (with brown hair walked me home before).
I said good-bye, and walked out in the rain with my broken umbrella. I stopped at Builder's Arms Pub, had a lonely pint of Stones Directors Bitter. That's the Richmond College pub, and none were friendly to an outsider like me. I went to the Goat for a pint there. The old men there were much friendlier. They at least looked at me.
1993
Avalon, Iowa
Driving continuously, at first to make sure the truck wasn’t going to overheat. The windy road 52 North was along the Mississippi river valley, but still up in the high hills much of the way. I stopped at a restaurant bar auto repair shop for microwave pancakes, burned crisp. The small jar of syrup had a blue pastic cover, and when I picked it up by its blue plastic handle, the glass fell with the syrup, spilling all over the floor behind the bar. He brought a towel and cleaned. Much of it got into the ice chest, broken glass and all.
The old men in there were talking about football with very racist perceptions of quality players. It was an upsetting place over all, even though it’s name was Avalon. I stopped at Rhonda’s, surprising her and Christina. That was the shocking end of being a traveler.
1995
Rachel made pot roast last night, so tonight we brought that, some pie, and some other delectables over to John's for dinner. Rachel and I had spent part of the day cleaning the yard and lounging.
2010
I reported the hailstorm from Sept 4 to geico and my home insurance companies. Rachel was having lessons in the piano room when I arrived home, so I made dinner and we spent the night watching netflix shows while Rachel put together a snapfish photo album for her mother of our wedding. It rained all night.
2012