Text 971, 105 rader
Skriven 2013-06-11 03:31:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: end o trip 688
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Breakfast: leftover steak

Lunch: was to have been leftover steak au naturel, but Dan
showed up for a visit right around mealtime, so I made a
pan of beef and oyster sauce, which I put over pasta. He
protested that he had to go home for lunch, but either the
food or the conversation kept him in thrall, so he didn't
leave until around 3. During this time he also had a pot of
coffee, and I had a Yuengling or two, then I checked my e-mail
and discovered that US Air had delayed my flight half an hour,
so I had time for an hour nap, and then off we went to the
airport. Big line at the check-in. Apparently, Philly was
socked in with thunderstorms and fog. New estimated departure
7:55. I checked in - the line took a good long time, as each
passenger had a connection to be replaced, and every possible
breathing human had been called in to help (4 of them, none
of my regulars, as I am usually on the noon flight; I think
I recognized one of them as a mechanic or other ramper). By
the time I got to the counter (oh, a little less than half an
hour) the revised time was 7:35. Annie was about to whisk me
away to Ichiban for supper, but the gate guy said, in a heavy
hint, I'd be here at 5:15 if I were you. So we went off on
the economy for a beer (the airport restaurant and the
airport coffee shop are both closed on Mondays); found an
amusing place near Giant Food (we made a stop to get 83 bucks'
worth of cat food) and had a couple of Yuenglings. As Billy
had flown a lot, Annie has the direct line to the US Air desk
at the airport on speed dial, so we called around 5. The guy
said get your butt over here, the flight is arriving in 5
minutes. We slugged down our beers and made it back there in
jig time. The equipment actually landed at around 5, but
there was still the ground delay thing in Philly, so they
didn't even open the TSA security until almost 5:30, and
we took off at 6.

The TSA supervisor was familiar, and I was familiar, and
he said, welcome back, it's been a couple months, which was
spooky but sort of cool. I concurred, and he said that he
remembered these things. I hope he said HE remembered, not
THEY remembered.

US4405 IPT PHL 1634 1725 DH8 4A

I was pretty late boarding, third to last, and shortly we
were in the air for a notably bumpy and uncomfortable
flight, most interestingly an air pocket of oh, maybe 3 to
5 feet, where, had we not been belted in, we would have hit
our little noggins on the overhead bins. Gasps, a bunch of
laughter, then a lot of whispering in back. The person in the
corresponding right side exit row seat squealed theatrically:
a rather portly woman with too much carry-on, she was
friendly enough but clearly not qualified to take the exit
row (as it was a light flight, the FA had allowed people to
move around).

We landed at 6:40ish and then had the taxi to the ramp
rigmarole and deplaned shortly before 7.

I made my way to the newly renovated club (not at all better
nor, in fact, much different than the old one) and camped out
in the business center.

Dinner would have been a baggie of leftover steak that Annie
had sliced up for me, but the club offering was roasted
chicken noodle soup, which I tasted and found gratifyingly
edible, with big chunks of real chicken (though mostly white
meat), nonmushy noodles, and carrot bits; the general spicing
was Indian plus a lot of salt. I had two bowls, washed down
with the barely acceptable, better than United's, red wine.
The snack snack was Food Should Taste Good sweet potato
tortilla chips, which are much nastier than the regular sweet
potato chips.

US4489 PHL DCA 2105 2207 DH8 4A

I tried to change for first class to Baltimore, but there was
one seat left, and they were trying to sell it, so no upgrade
available; I stuck with what I had. So I ended up on another
noisy propeller craft, again in the exit row, but this time
they assigned the seat next to me to a guy who had exceedingly
long legs. Okay, it's about a 15 minute flight, so I can take
it. But after we'd all boarded up at 9, we were told that we
were going to sit around for a while, as Washington was under
a ground stop, which lasted for about an hour, so I went to
the back of the plane and found a row to myself. Another quite
bumpy flight; we deplaned to a remote stand and so had to take
a bus (when the flight attendant announced this, there were
astonished murmurs throughout the cabin) back to the terminal,
and by the time we reached the airport there was no way for
me to get where I wanted to go, so I decided to hang around
the airport until the subway started up again in the morning.
I stayed inside security until about 1, when a fairly genial
cop evicted everyone, and went outside to the lobby (rather
chilly). I was settling down when this guy in a maintenance
buggy came around distributing blankets, gratefully accepted.

Midnight snack around 3 am: leftover steak and a nip of
Black Velvet. The meat has begun to taste a little like one
quart resealable plastic container; there is 1/2 lb left, but
I fear it may not be so healthful when the time comes to eat
it. Thus endeth the side of beef, except for a pound and change
that I left behind for Annie.
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