Thursday, January 29, 2009

TV, nearly, and trees, but no PC

The tv decoder arrived (from France Telecom/Orange, part of the netz package at no extra charge except oh did they forget to mention the deposit?).

There are never enough power points.

At Pons, though the Donjon is closed for the winter (you can go into the tourist office and press your nose to the glass door and try to peer upwards), the sadly pollarded trees are fighting back with small new branches reaching vertically to the sky, in bright dark red. In the sunlight the trees look as though they are on fire.

In Leclerc the tv sets are very expensive and we left without buying one. There must be a cheaper source.

My beloved old PC, which appeared to have survived its year in storage and powered up with no trouble when I collected it, won't power up now.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Returned home

It was an interesting drive through rain and flooded roads, listening to the news reports of 175kph winds and closed roads and 2 million houses without electricity. South of Poitiers the autoroute was closed! I considered finding somewhere to stay the night, but the wind was dropping by the time I reached Poitou Charentes: the clouds cleared, the temperature rose, and it became a warm sunny spring day. Actually the roads were very quiet, as people had listened to police instructions to stay indoors, so it was easy to avoid the small lakes and mudslides and pieces of tree, though I was watching the trees by the road in case any showed signs of wobble. At least two people were crushed by trees yesterday. Near home the road through St Ciers was closed, but the top road via St Fort was open.

And there was the house, looking secure. No electricity. I unpacked some stuff and went to see La Concierge du Village and her husband. The power had gone off on Friday, and her centenarian mother is with them this month, so she was rather fraught and worried. As we were talking, their hall light came on, oh joy!

Inexplicably, the water to the garden taps had been left on (though I'm sure someone had turned it off in the autumn) and the pipe had burst. La Concierge had found it but she can't reach the mains taps either (she is even shorter than me!), so she'd had to wait for son mari, and the water carried on pouring out for several hours. That's going to cost, on a meter. When the storm started, the barn window blew open and the cover over it fell down. It hadn't been properly closed. I didn't know it could be opened, but La C thinks Ben-the-builder had opened it. She managed to get it shut and hammered some hookthingies into the wall to hold a plank across to keep it shut. She couldn't see a hammer in the barn so she used another piece of wood. Tough old lady!

The roof seems to be ok, and there is only a little damage to some of the building stuff in the barn. Today the wind is back though...

Watching the news on tv, it seems that further south and in Spain it was ferocious. Here it wasn't as bad as the Great Storm of 1999 (similar to England's Great Storm of 1987); in the bay d'Archeron just south of Bordeaux, it was worse.

I ache all over. It was an even longer drive than usual. Arms are failing as well as legs, so a day mostly in bed is called for, and I shouldn't be typing too much either :/

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Day 4: Out with the girls in Redmond

Today there was little sightseeing but much cultural exchange.

D invited me to a birthday lunch (Thai, and very tasty too) with a group of women whose children go to the same elementary school. I can do children-talk, having been there (you don't forget...), but there wasn't much of it. The conversation ranged from triathlons and almost drowning in open water (personal experiences of several of them) to the meaning of... well, you don't want to know O_O. We did have a shared rant about testing in schools, which is as rife in WA as in UK, and as popular. They talked of entertaining and other social activities; I like the idea of shared cooking days. They discussed their various jobs and projects and the small businesses which a couple of them have started. It was most enlightening as well as amusing, and they were so friendly. The birthday girl is actually from London, married to a Cypriot, and most of them have travelled abroad. It was both like and unlike my preconceptions (gleaned from literature and of course tv/films).

Later I met J to go to a Chinese restaurant in Bellevue. We had a brief unguided tour in getting there, which was interesting for me as I learned about road patterns and signage and naming schemes. The restaurant was very good indeed. We were welcomed with enthusiasm and "Happy New Year" (they are starting celebrations early and will probably continue into February!). The tea was poured as we sat down and dumplings were offered, as something to eat while we waited for the meals to be cooked. They were delicious, as was the rest of the meal. The portions were massive and doggybags are expected: no point for me, going back to a warm hotel room at 10pm. I did briefly consider saving some for breakfast, but I'm not a breakfast type and tomorrow morning I have to attempt to cram everything back into the suitcase and catch a taxi to Tacoma.

I wish I were staying a bit longer.

Day 3

Seattle itself.

First, to the Space Needle via various roads and buildings. J was unsure whether the Space Needle would be worth paying for, with visibility cut down in the gentle drizzle, but fortunately it was clearing to light cloud and we could see all of the city and most of the harbour and lakes. There are 24-hour time-lapse videos of a summer's day, so I saw what Mount Rainier would have looked like (very impressive!).

Having a resident with me was good, because I wouldn't have had a clue what any of the tall buildings are, nor which district and stretch of water was which. J wasn't too sure about naming the islands, except for the one which is a "reservation". We looked at the information screens, marvelled in mild disgust at the photos of the Gum Wall, and planned the rest of the tour.

Most important was the Pike Place Market, a marvellous farmers', fishers', and craft market. We watched fish being thrown across a stall (with a sort of shouted chant). Nothing like the fish-throwing in Asterix, but it had certain similarities to the Muppets ;). Drank Market Spice tea in the Market Spice stall, where I bought some things and had to resist massive temptation to buy a lot more; the teasets were especially attractive. We passed a Handmade Cheese shop and the pianist who has been busking outside the market for 20 years, looked at jewellery and craft stands, and generally tried not to buy things which couldn't be transported. Some years ago, around the time J moved here, there was a plot by property developers to pull down the market and build apartment blocks. So glad they were beaten off. Besides, the market must have brought in far more revenue over the years than a couple of blocks of yuppie homes would have done. It's going to be renovated this year, but it's promised to be done with minimal interruptions. If you have the dreaded flash, you can take an online tour of the market.

It was dark by now, so we visited the Troll under the Aurora bridge at his dinnertime, though he'd already caught dinner so we were safe. Later, from another road, we could see the Aurora Bridge in its delicate lacy splendour. It becomes a viaduct further down the Alaskan Highway, but we didn't go that far. Another time.

Seattle goes in for curious statues. There's also the Hammering Man outside the art museum, and various later creations based on the same idea, such as the Drinking Man and the smaller man with a coffee-cup. We went twice round the statue of Lenin to have a good look. It's an excellent statue, but I had to ask - why? J said some Russian friends had also asked why Seattle had put up a statue of Lenin, as there are none in Russia now, to which she'd replied "It was cheap".

I'm not usually keen on skyscraper-type buildings, but some of Seattle's are lovely. There are two made of light creamy stone like the stone of Charente Maritime: one with windows of pale cobalt and the other of turquoise-green. The famous Smith Tower which is purported to have been at one time the tallest building west of the Mississippi (now shadowed by apartment blocks!) is very elegant.

We went to look for food, not so easy on a Sunday evening: the chosen restaurant was shut. Unfortunately the lid of the boot^Wtrunk slammed down on my head; J found a place where they gave her a huge bagful of ice, and we drove off in search of another feedingplace with me wearing a cold and somewhat inelegant hat. I was feeling a bit queasy with the headache when we got to the 5 Point Cafe, so I didn't really appreciate the jukebox even though the music was good-to-acceptable. The 5 Point is a proudly scruffy place with a sign up in the window "Ripping Off Tourists-n-Drunks Since 1929". Good thing I had a local guide, eh? The prices are a bit high for a caff, but the food is good.

And so, with a last pass round the city and a wave to the seafront, back to Redmond.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Day 2

I woke too early, and had used up all the coffee and milk the day before, so went downstairs and bought a tub of fruit and a yoghourt. The fruit was excellent, the yoghourt was not good (labelled "Danonn" but nothing like Danone). On the way down I saw the cleaner doing the next room... when I came back my room still hadn't been done.

J and K phoned to ask if I wanted to come to lunch. Of course! Not for the food (having pigged out on half a litre of strawberries, pineapple and melon), but for the company. Passing a cleaner near the lifts, I tried asking when my room would be cleaned. He smiled and nodded to every question and I realised he didn't speak English (or American). I have only one word of Hindi and no Urdu so that didn't work. I wasn't at all bothered about having the bed made, and there were plenty of clean towels, but no milk! They put only two milks in each room, with enough coffee for 8 cups, and because my room hadn't been cleaned at all the previous day I was fed up with black coffee.

K wanted to go to Red Robin, so somehow we ended up at Claim Jumper. This is, unsurprisingly, a chain of restaurants with a nineteenth-century mining theme: decor of plastic rocks and a huge elk head sticking out of the wall. The portions are huge too. K had a horrible sore throat and needed Tea. I thought, ok, live dangerously, sample Usian tea. Silly me. It came as a pot of tepid water and a teabag made out of some nylon gauze stuff. I asked for hot water, which worked better, but it was still fairly ghastly. Very good ice-cream sundae, though - billed as The World's Smallest Sundae and consequently an acceptable size.

Back at the hotel, I phoned for milk and promptly half an hour later a passing cleaner arrived, as I was leaving to join the team assembled for the Company Quiz. Most of us work from home, and even the team boss lives five hours' drive from the office and only goes there for emergencies, so there were introductions all round. The quiz was much fun, with a very broad set of stretching questions and nothing on popular tv. We had to guess a couple of mountain ranges and I still haven't found out what Nephology is.

Returned to the room to prepare for the evening, and found that the cleaner had left 2 extra milks :)

The party started with drinks dispensed by an extemely friendly barman who became even friendlier as the evening wore on, though he didn't appear to be sampling his wares. There were many people with whom to chat, and I ended up at a table with people from another part of the company. One of them offered to take me to see Seattle on Sunday, and another arranged to meet for lunch on Monday. Time planned now :) They told me not to visit the Science Fiction Museum and a few other tourist traps ("expensive and nothing much to see"), but apparently the Space Needle is a must for a visitor.

In the speeches section of dinner, $Big_Boss regretted that the offshore group from India weren't present, welcomed the other offshore group from Vancouver Island (that was a joke, in case you're not sure of the local geography), and was well chuffed to have people in from England and France (J and me).

Unfortunately there were mushrooms hidden in the sauce so I went upstairs to puke a little. Quickly recovered and back down to chat some more, and so to bed at about 1am.

Oh, and we won the quiz.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Redmond Day 1

Ahhh, sleep. Somewhat broken, but a total of over six hours. I think I'm still a night behind, but functioning.

So, out into the famous Redmond Town Center. I'm not usually a fan of shopping, shops, and shopping precincts (or malls in usian), but this one is beautifully designed and very pretty. No camera, but there must be photos on the web (though apparently not on the Official Site). It was almost empty. Friday afternoon, January sales (mostly 70% off, in a desperate attempt to flog the Christmas stock)... and only a few shoppers. Not even the Norwich-sized crowds of lookers and handlers.

Macy's has a one-day sale of extra off at the till on most articles. Oh, the woe. I wasn't much interested in the clothes, but the Denby-ware and kitchen stuff... so cheap... so impossible to take home. I carefully avoided shops selling electrical things. And, though I know it won't last, I didn't go into the huge Borders just across the road from the hotel.

Food for the day was a Rubyburger and salad with two glasses of excellent lemonade. Again, the place was almost empty. It has a train-set hung from the ceiling, with two models of old trains going round, and a few other vehicular decorations including an electric bike and a kiddy fire-engine. The place was polished sparkly clean.

It's a very clean area. It's also a very polite and friendly area. I love the way drivers slow down and stop at crossings in case anyone wants to cross, and smile happily when their effort is made use of. One guy coming out of a shop greeted me with "Hi! How are you doing?" so warmly that I wondered if I'd failed to recognise a long-lost friend.

One of the Ruby's Diner waitresses is staying in a hotel because the road home has been washed away by the floods. Most of the main roads have been closed by snow and floods and weren't open until yesterday, and some of the smaller roads won't be repaired for a while, which might account for some of the desertedness. I've been advised not to attempt driving out to see the countryside: everyone says come back in the summer. Of course I would love to do that.

The Flying Wheelchair Goes to NW USA. Part 1: Getting there

Getting to Redmond, WA was both better and worse than expected. First, the good points. My lovely brother was back in UK in time for me to leave my car at his place while he provided taxi-service to Heathrow, which was a huge relief. United Airlines has good customer service. The flights were not too bouncy (though we did have turbulence over the north Atlantic) and very delicately landed. Both flights were fast.

The clouds cleared over Greenland. So beautiful. It's the only cold place I would like to visit, except for the Antarctic of course. Most of it was very smooth sweeps of snow-covered hills, but the west coast was free of snow and a marvellous sight, with superbly rocky examples of Slartibartfast's designs. Canada was cloudy again so I tried the films and video, sadly all crap except one episode of House which I'd already seen.

The not-so-good points. Chariot was almost left at Heathrow, and only rescued because the cabin crew noticed it was still outside the door when they were preparing for take-off. We landed in Chicago O'Hare Terminal 5 almost an hour early, with loads of time to get the connecting flight to Seattle from Terminal 1. However, I'd not booked for the immediately-connecting flight because there are so often problems with the wheelchair and assistance, and so it was this time. Chariot was removed with the rest of the baggage, in spite of instructions on its label, so someone had to find it and return it to the plane. There was still just enough time to catch the connection, so I mentioned to the Assistance guy that I wanted to change my flight. He was carrying my bag: suddenly he swerved off through a staff-only gate, and came back to say he'd checked it in (er, security?!); very handy and quick but he'd forgotten that I wanted to change flight. So he thought it would be easier to do that from Terminal 1. We went to Terminal 1 and spoke to the check-in people - who said there were seats and enough time, but did I want to check in baggage? Yes? No problem. Where was it? Oh dear. No way to get it back in time.

Ah well, I could pay for wifi and plug laptop in at the internet area. (Assistance guy thought I should stay in the Speshul^WSpecial Assistance lounge where there was tv, but I escaped. American tv. Two of them, one on each side of the room. On different channels. arrrrrrrrrrrrrgh.)

Unfortunately, the next flight was delayed. The delay gradually increased. Not their fault - the regular flight crew were coming in from Newark, or would have been if the north-east hadn't been closed for weather. Of course, if I'd known there would be more than 8 hours to wait, I'd have gone exploring instead of hanging around the airport. It's a very boring airport, and even more so when everything shuts at 9pm. Everything including food and drink.

Finally another crew was found, over four hours late. There was another delay when they were ready because the plane wasn't. Not fuelled. Odd, after all that waiting. The first officer explained that United had outsourced fuelling, and it's much slower now. He also apologised for various other cost-cutting things (but hey, who needs a free-as-in-goes-on-the-fare mouthful of pretzels wrapped in a whole bag of planet-killing plastic?). He also said they'd be taking it as fast as was safe because the crew of this SeaTac Express was Seattle-based and they wanted to get home. Fine by me.

Excellent flight. Chicago from the air at night is very pretty indeed, all gold and silver sparkly. Over the mountains was cloudy, but on the approach to Seattle the sky cleared and it was light enough to see the land: dark hills and shining little towns in the valleys between.

The taxi to Redmond cost 65 dollars. For 14 miles, that was very ouch; I suppose being after midnight made it higher.

The Marriott staff were great. Knew who I was, asked if I minded having a king-size bed, decided to change my room to a more accessible one (still has a king-size bed, with six pillows laid out for a threesome ahem). There's no kettle, only a coffee machine with good ground coffee; I wasn't planning to drink American tea anyway :). And a shower. Ohhhh shower.

So, after a journey lasting nearly 30 hours, I am ...