U.S. Tripping – Day 4
New York to Washington DC
Got up early, and got to Penn Station with way too much time to spare. Then a whole load of the trains were delayed, eventually including mine. We think that the British trains are bad, and yes they are stupidly expensive, but at lest they mostly run on time, and they are faster. No wonder this country lives and dies by the car.
Sitting in the station and then on the train, and thanks to the internet capabilities of my phone, I had been becoming increasingly alarmed about the news I was hearing from home. Before I left Aberdeen, an old acquaintance of me and Kathryn, and one of Daisy’s exes had turned up in the flat with a key and it transpired he was using Daisy’s room to doss. We agreed warily that this was okay, so long as he left when he said he would and didn’t use the rest of the flat, because he said he didn’t need to. Well, I was now hearing from Kathryn that he had been letting people stay over and hadn’t left when he said he would. Then when on the train, Kathryn wrote to tell me that he’d left a little gift in the kitchen sink, shall we say? Anyway, I wrote to our property manager, and fretted slightly, but there was nothing else I could do, other than try and support Kathryn from thousands of miles away.
Finally rolled into Union Station, Washington DC, and quickly got on the metro. The metro looks like something off of stark trek: the next generation, it’s all edgy and 80s looking. Got to Alexandria, Virginia, which is just outside DC, and met Mack, the guy hosting me, as while in Washington DC I am couchsurfing. Also met JG, the girl I’m sharing with.
We all headed into town, and in this nice weather there was quite a bit of street entertainment happening. We watch one act at Dupont Circle for a bit and then JG and Mack went to see a show, and I went to a bookshop. I had been expecting to hear from the other 2 guys who were couchsurfing as well with Mack, but they failed to get in touch and eventually I headed back to the house to find everyone there. I gave Mack his gift of a Scottish flag and he was very pleased with it. I can see it write now, it’s hanging over his decks.
