England...The Time Of My Life...Chapter 1

Cheers everyone!
I'm back from my extended stay in the UK!
This was indeed the adventure of my life......
It was raining hard Thurs as I prepared to go to the airport.....my ride, the very undependable Mr Stephen Shields, never showed, but luckily I had a back up plan and after a half hour of waiting....a phone call to Yellow Cabs brought a driver to the door in less than 15 minutes...a record for a rainy day in North Dallas. I arrived at DFW in plenty of time and switched to an earlier flight...but everything was delayed because of the rain....we took off an hour late and made it to the Houston area in 45 minutes, but Houston was stacked up and we circled for over an hour and a half....coming to the gate at 3:35. The flight to London was scheduled for 3:40! So there I was dressed in a long sleeve jersey, heavy sweater, leather jacket, loaded with a backpack and dufflebag running with all my might thru George Bush International Airport. As I approached Gate 5, sweat pouring down my brow....I saw the door to the jet way closed. ...I missed the flight. Just as the agent was re-ticketing me, a worker open the door and asked if there were any "runners". That's me! I was re-ticketed again and off I was down the jetway....
I'll say this again. Continental Airlines is tops! The people, the service, everything. And there I was, after saving my Frequent Flyer miles for 11 years....flying off to London for Free! I had two seats to myself on the DC-10, and enjoyed great service, free drinks and some interesting conversation, albeit a tad long winded and loud, with a Brit lady and her Texan husband who met in Cairo. Fans of the Brit comedy "Keeping Up Appearances", think Hyacinth and Richard". If she said that she knew George W. Bush, one more time, I would have screamed. They did have some interesting stories of driving across the Sinai Desert in their Mercedes and drinking Champagne in on top of strange rock formations. And of her fulfilling her lifelong dreaming of being a ballerina by dancing atop a sandstone as the sun set. "A little to much Champagne...maybe?" The neatest thing about the flight was the computer program that was projected on the movie screen. It showed a map of the world and a little plane (that was us) that moved across the map as we made the journey. Then a detailed map would appear showing our exact location, followed by statistics of the flight. For geeks only I suppose... I loved it! "Flying over Virginia.......621 mph....Altititude 33000 feet...6078 kilometers to London.....-61 degrees F"
We arrived at Gatwick/London as the sun rose, and to me it still wasn't real. I breezed through customs after mentioning I was there to see Gary Numan perform in concert. I opted for the bus ride into London to save money. At that point I only knew of two options.... The Gatwick Express Train at 17 pounds 50 and the Flightline bus for 5 pounds 50, with my discount coupon, so I thought. Do not buy the "London for Less" Guidebook. I thought I had all these great money saving coupons but first the Currency Exchange had never seen them before...and neither had the "not so friendly" bus driver. Well after waiting almost an hour for the bus that "runs every thirty minutes"....I got on and luckily the fare was only 5 pounds...later I learned that SouthWest Connex Railroad offers service to Gatwick from Victoria Station with only one stop in 33 minutes time for only 7 pounds 50. I opted for this on the return. The bus ride took an hour and a half! I jumped on the Underground....."Mind the Gap".... and made it to my Bed and Breakfast...The St Athen's Hotel on Tavistock St near Russell Square.....a great location..and a great little neighborhood. The St Athen's wasn't bad but for an American the rooms, as they were everywhere where "TINY". The only thing I had confirmed before leaving was 3 nights at this hotel....all the rest I left up in the air..I wanted an adventure. How I did this I don't know but I stayed up the whole day and and managed to out clubbing that night. it's amazing what adrenaline will do!
That night I found the club of my dreams.....POPSTARZ........which played the greatest mix of Britpop and Alternative rock. And they have a great slogan...."The drugs don't work, but the beer does..," What a difference from the annoying Disco and Techno I constantly have to endure. On Saturday, I received a call from my friend Andy McAffie, a Gary Numan fan who I met on the internet and we planned to meet a Victoria Station with another fan from Washington D.C, Shane King. We met at Track One and it was so increadable to be talking GARY NUMAN to other people. We headed to another great London institution, THE RETRO BAR, near Trafalgar Square, where they have 4 Gary Numan discs on the jukebox! Neadless to say for the next four hours just about all that was head in that bar was the sounds of GARY NUMAN. After downing a few prints of Britain's finest Ales, there was even a sing along! Can you say "The time of my life" I also got to meet the drummer in Andy's band.."MOUTHFUL". His name is Munsoon, an 19 year old Indian (as in India, not the American West )immigrant who's into the SMITHS. I stayed at Andy's house in Redding that night. We just jumped on the train, which runs about every ten minutes....One of the greatest things about this trip was riding the British trains....more on that later....We stayed up most of the night listening to Gary Numan's new album "EXILE" which I heard for the first time that night and watching wacky British game shows, where the contestants...mostly second rate celebrities answer stupid questions about how long a shoe lace is and giving the middle finger to the host....you'll never see that in America.....

Well that's the end of chapter one...hope I'm not boring anyone but I've got so much to tell and I wanted to write a story of the trip and it sure saves from telling the same stories over and over.
Tomorrow night's episode.........I see Gary Numan Live and meet him... .....til then.....Cheers!