Letters from Base Camp #4
4th June 2007
It's the simple things in life which give me so much pleasure....like driving a jeep.....how cool is that!
I haven't driven a jeep since I was 19 and living in Toronto.....I know it's not enviromentally friendly but I repeat...how cool is that!
There is a phenomenon in life that I would like to share with you..........how, when you have passed Walmart on your way in to the hotel and have it's exact location fixed in your head and having unpacked and set off thinking, left a bit and right a bit, can one end up driving around in circles and back to the interstate. It took 30 minutes to find and 3 minutes to get back. But if you are going to go on a sight seeing tour of the local industries on the outskirts of town, I recommend you do it in a jeep.
As you will note I am still on UK time, I think I must be running on adrenaline. Pete is on both time zones I'm not quite sure what he's running on.
I came back from shopping with little things to tempt my man into eating, thinly sliced corned beef off the bone, a variety of (amazingly for the US) tasty cheeses from around the world, fruit, ice-cream, a tasty herby, cheesy bread. He managed to force down a corned beef sandwich.......................it's not like him is it,................it's another phenomenon, Pete's off his food, four words I never thought I'd ever see all linked up together.
I also came back with some massage oil and having worked out the stiffness in his neck, shoulders and hips, he now has the gentle odour of lavender, sweet marjoram and sage and he's in a deep sleep, so that works then.
Yesterday, we moved out at midday with 3 hours to kill, Pete can only be upright for half an hour at a time, so we drove towards the University and found a Frontier restaurant which Pete had been told he should try. Walking in we wondered what we had let ourselves in to, fast food pandamonium, but as it turned out it was great. I had a veggie salad which was yummie and Pete struggled trying to get down a small steak with salad which he didn't fancy. We also has giant drinks of freshly squeezed orange juice. Refreshed I then had to find somewhere quick to lie him face down until we could book in at 3pm.
Driving around the University I see a spot by a private car park with an amazingly lush piece of grass shaded by trees. I head in to the car park and ask a nice young fellow just getting out of his car, if it's OK to park there for a bit.
"You guys from England?" he trills excitedly....no idea how he knew that..........."I've been looking for a nice English girl to settle down with for years, I hear they are all lovely, live half the year in England and half in Albuquerque, perfect,"
I take quick note of his appearance and age and decide he'll be perfect for Neen.
"You can rest here," he says "I'll square it with the guys inside, see how nice we can be over here to you poms."
By the time he returns Pete is face down in the grass and a quick conversation ensues, he's facinated of course by what Pete's doing and the plight he's in and like all strangers we have met along the way wants to help. Pete you must remember is face down and neither has seen the other's face. He's actually involved in the back stage management of the university theatre and they are about to stage the last production of the season, but before heading in to do his work our new friend Joel (Norweign decent and has spent a lot of time in Australia Neen) swapped cards with us and said Pete was not to leave Albuquerque before meeting up again as he had a friend who was involved in baseball and they needed to talk. He then came running out saying he had solved the problem of Pete not being able to watch baseball, he has a nice big house out of town (take note Neen) and Pete is to go over when he is mobile and enjoy it there using mirrors to see the screen.
Of all the patches of grass in all of Albuquerque I chose that one and look what happened - our Neen's to be wed.
And on that exciting note, I'm off for my breakfast 4.48am.
the blue-tit signing out |
