blog.species5618.net

Well , again, i am stuck in Bellevue, east of seattle , Between Seattle and Redmond ..

Been having some trouble with the DSLR, some minor dust on the sensor, which show up as shadows on a blue sky shot, had tried every camera shop in Bellevue, and ended up in Glazers in Seattle, Very Odd location, think back to those quite secluded warehouses the A-Team used to shot up , a bit like that, but they had the stuff i needed and i have now succesfully cleaned the camera
Thought i was goinh to get??arrested for J-Walking at one point, not a car in sight so we proceed to cross the road in a Random Manor (not the done thing is the USA) when a black and white rolls around the corner, stops, looks us (4 of us) up and down??then drives off,

Then we proceeded to do the ??tourist thing, Seattle space needle, 520 ft of viewing platform, managed to get some good weather, so the view was quite good, may add some PIX to the gallery at some point !
Then a monorail back to downtown seattle for a wonder around Pike Market and a Coffee from the Original starbucks, which has a brown logo not green and the woman in the middle has more detail than the current logo

Then back to the hotel, the car park was like something out of men in black
walk of the street through a door in a wall, into a dark room with nothing else but a lift in it !

Well arrived at the express security gate on Heathrow terminal 3, with the exact same baggage (one laptop bag (rucksack) ??and small canon camera bag) that i had on the 12th of march, to be told, “ONE BAG ONLY, YOU WILL HAVE TO MAKE THAT LOT INTO ONE BAG”
This was not open to dicsussion and the bitch was definatly playing the do as??I say or dont fly attitude,?? so stand at the table and dismantle the camera (good job i carry the blanking plates etc) and make it fit into what little space there was in my laptop bag, although i did end up puttig the lens into my coat pocket..

??Only to get through security into the departure lounge to see LOADS of people carry two bags with a similar configuration to mine…
So once i made it to the SAS lounge, I put it back to two bags !!

At least??I did not get the treatment the coupple behind me did, the poor woman bag did not quite fit in the hand luggage cage, and??regardless the fact she was being fairly reasonable, depite her husband walking off and leaving her to it,??the security “bitch” almost lost it and demanded her manager came out and sorted it…

Here We Go AGAIN, up at 0400 this morning, 2 hour drive to heathrow, (30 mins or so later than last month) and boy was the traffic in side the airport bad…
10:35 plane to Copenhagn, and then 10 hour flight to seatte, only 2.5 weeks this time..

Had a fantastic easter break, brecons was lovely and the weather was exceptional

but now back to the grind stone, the project has to be complete by the 27th april, so i expect we will be getting very friendly wit the pizza delivery guys !
and??I will have to suffer another 2+ weeks in a hotel (or guilded cage, to steal a phrase from the pigblog)

well I am still in bellevue (just outside seattle) the trips to frys are now becomeing essential to stop me going NUTS,

I actually get to come home for easter, so have a pleasent 16+ hoiur door to door experiance ahead,
Flying via Denmark, but apprenlty SAS business class was 2000 quid per person cheaper the BA buiness class !!

I have the seattle fridge magnets, some microsoft T-Shirts, and a few other godies for the Kids,

Seriously looking forward to a plate of “beans on toast”.. 3.5 weeks of hotels, restuarants and cold food start to get to you after a while !!!!

Seatle wheather is much like the UK, suny when it canbe bothered monday to friday, and almost certianly going to be crap at the weekend. it is not actually raining at the moment, but visibility make the space needle and bank of america building viewing platform pretty point less..

well had enough of this hotel room, going to have a look on google maps (or should i say live maps, being so close to Redmond) and go for a walk

Due to an attack of SEVERE boredem, i went to the cinema on my own.

what and ODD experiance,

1. discovered my “English” accent is incomprehencable via those daft screen with intercoms built in, either that or the bloke was a twat (time to send in the brumies or the scots see what he make of that)
2. The Regular ticket queue moved faster than the “quick TIX” queue
3. some bloke came out before the movie and gave the Heath , Safety and comfort speach, (although?? he missed?? the bit about earthquakes)
4. Many US people have an odd sense of humour, laughing a bit of the film which were not funny

oh well only another NINE days till a get to “pop” (15 hours on planes, why the hell we booked via Norway i do not know)home for a week and spend some time with the wife and kids !!

Well i am still in seattle, 10 days now, and getting very pissed off,
there is only so much all expenses paid , one can take !

so here is a list of amerian-ism, some language, some culture

Right turn :- you can turn right when the lights are RED
Sidewalk :- means pavement
pavement :- means ROAD
The store :- means the SHOP
Jiffy Lube :- is kwik fit, not K-Y jelly
Saugsage :- Meat Pattie, (kwik save beef burger)
Trunk :- Boot of a Car, not a elephant nose
Cell :- Mobile (Phone)
ATM :- Cash machine, not async transfer mode
Fanny: bum, so a fanny bag is a bum bag !!!
Credit cards:- they dont check the signature !
Light Switch:- they all work upside down
Power:- thay allow POWER point is a bathroom (great to plug the kettle in)
Pre-Paid :- Pay as you go sell phone (BTW you you pay for incoming calls and text on most tarrifs)
Motherhood and Apple pie :- a solution whcih address’s all the problems

so Just to add to the fun, some of us are now using Cockney rhyming slang !!!