Marching bands

It is coming up to the beginning of a new school year, and it seems to be marching band season. Drummers on the beach and cymbal players in the car parks. Something we definitely lack in England...

Rained out

Today was supposed to be the first day of the fall softball season. Unfortunately, the 'fall' weather has turned out to be more like 'autumn' and it's been pissing it down all day, so we were informed that the match was 'rained out'. Out? Out where? Cricket gets rained off. Which makes much more sense.

I have asked my team captain for the etymology of the term, but have yet to receive a reply...

Bloody credit cards

When I arrived in the US eight months ago, I applied for a credit card, but was turned down on the basis that I had no credit history in the US and was told it would take at least a year to build it up sufficiently.

In the last few months, I have received three letters from the Chase bank asking me if I would like to apply for a "Platinum" credit card. Each time, I have torn up the contents and envelope, put this in the postage paid "priority" return envelope and sent it back to them. When will they learn?

Wonderful weather

Being British, I feel compelled to talk about the weather again. The last two days it's been rather windy and on-the-brink-of-a-storm, but not too cold, which makes walking/running down by the lake a rather nice experience. But this is not what I'd been led to believe August in Chicago was like...

Unforeseen dangers

I don't think I had fully appreciated before yesterday what a dangerous sport softball can be. At practice yesterday, the team suffered numerous injuries, including damaged fingers, ankles, and a head-on collision between two guys both trying to catch a high fly-ball.

As for me, my right-hand little finger is a bright purple colour and is currently taped to the one next to it. This makes typing and writing really quite tricky. Especially tricky if you're trying to program is the continual need to ";" "Enter". Humph.

Chocolate money

I have noticed in the past few years in the UK, that there is some sort of inflation going on with regards to chocolate money. When I was a child, chocolate money came in one and two pence pieces, now it's all pound coins and more.

Well in the US they've gone one better (of course). Today I noticed for sale chocolate 10 dollar bills.

Not a lost kitten

Today I saw a hand-made poster taped to a lamppost near my house which said:

"Have you seen this bicycle?

(picture of bicycle)

$500 reward".

It amused me somewhat.

On edge

In the past few days, a number of planes have been diverted due to scares of imminent terrorism. Reasons have included:

• A crazy old lady muttering things about screwdrivers, handcream and bottled water.
• A 'note' in a seat pocket saying a bomb is on board the plane.
• And an airport was evacuated after supposed detection of explosives (which turned out not to actually exist).

Either the terrorists have almost been successful many times, and have started recruiting little old ladies, or the whole airline industry is completely on edge.

Back in the US of A

When I awoke last Thursday to the news that terrorists were planning on exploding planes somewhere over the Atlantic, I was obviously concerned about how this would affect my planned trip back to the USA the following Tuesday. My feelings of dread were not abated by the unending panning shots of giant tents surrounding the arrivals lounge at Heathrow which the BBC news were continually showing.

The fact that I was flying with British Midland turned out to be a saving grace, but the woman on the end of the phone "helpline" was really quite unhelpful, telling me that I wouldn't be allowed hand luggage at a time when every other media source had announced that the rules had just been changed. Although she did tell me at one point that "all the flights on Tuesday will be on time". Obviously got a good crystal ball there then.

On the day of the flight, things started out not in the smoothest manner, since my alarm did not go off (or I slept through it, we will never know which) and I awoke over an hour late, 15 minutes after my planned leaving time. However, other than that, I have to say that the journey was one of the smoothest I have ever made. I got through security faster than ever before, my laptop (in it's conveniently sized 45cm x 35cm x 16cm bag) had a whole overhead cabin to itself and best of all, no-one tried to blow up the plane.