Saturday 9th August

Another update from the road. Heading straight for New Orleans. I could have updated any time in Miami but if I update between cities it looks like we are having such a crazy hectic time that I can't even find five minutes to post on the blog except for the brief respite of the road.

I've always found it inconsistent that the characters from On The Road, could never stop moving, like sharks, but found time to be so well read, never mind to write. How do people who never stop moving get so much reading done? That's what I want to know. I brought a few
books with me and I've read nothing hardly. It was probably easier back then when you didn't have iPods and Internet to waste your time on. If I'd spent all the time that I wasted playing facebook poker and listening to skeptics podcasts then I might have finished a couple of the books I brought with me. And I wouldn't have become so skeptical that I can't suspend my disbelief anymore. We went to see the X-files movie last night and I just couldn't be doing with it. I can't take stories about psychics without rolling my eyes anymore. And that used to be my favourite show.

I should have got some reading done in Miami. We arrived on the 23rd and spent most of most days lazing inside with the air conditioning blasting. It was too hot to go to the car and fetch a book. And besides, Sebastian showed me this website, hulu.com, where you can watch free tv shows. So we watched almost all of 3 series of Arrested Development.

We mustered the effort to go to the Keys, a series of islands stretching from the southern tip of Florida into the Caribbean, ending with Key West. It was really beautiful, turquoise waters on both sides, white sands, tropical reefs. But I had to go ruin it by getting fried on only the second day. I went snorkelling and decided to swim out to a tiny island that looked deceptively close. It took about an hour each way and I just didn't think about needing to put more sun screen on. So naturally my back was burnt quite badly. I'm usually so good about covering up to. "Why didn't you put more sunscreen on me?" I snapped at Jenn. We got a room in Key West so I could sit up in front of the air con all night. The next day we stayed indoors, had breakfast and went to a treasure museum, then drove back to Miami. That was part of the reason we spent a lot of time inside in Miami too. I started out looking like a lobster, then progressed to a scaly fish as my back fell off. It was pretty gross, especially for me as I have a phobia of skin shedding, particularly when the skin retains its shape like snake skin. Ugh.

Well, enough of that. When we did venture into the Miami heat it was nice. The beach is pretty, if pretty busy. The whole city is made up of Spanish speaking immigrants, Puerto Rican, Cuban, it makes for a foreign atmosphere and good food, and then add a load of British holiday makers in their designer (outlet) clothes and it was like being on a proper vacation. I felt a bit embarrassed wearing an England shirt, like I was some sunburnt chav hooligan on holiday in Miami just out to get wasted. Which couldn't be farther from the truth. I didn't touch any alcohol, didn't like the heat and the book I actually did read some of was Alan Bennett, hardly hooligan-lit.

We picked Yilmaz up, and he stayed for a few days, that got us out of the house a bit more, we ate more good food, did some shopping, then left Yil at the airport. He wasn't there for long but he was there for Jenn's birthday which was neat. 25 now, she's caught back up with me.

The biggest news really was finding out that we have to be in Sacramento on August 25th for my final immigration appointment. That means cutting the road trip short, but not by too much we'll just have to bomb across the south. (I have to stop saying bomb before that appointment)

So it's New Orleans, then a couple of stops on the way to Vegas and home.