Strata

It was a long day.

The alarm finally went off at 5 putting me out of the misery of suspension. I elected to forgo the shower and arrived at the bus station way too early - 5:25 for a 5:45 bus. That, in turn, got me to Edinburgh airport with plenty of time to spare, so I treated myself to a bacon butty.

I had hours to kill in Dublin airport, so I checked into the lounge for smoothies and a shower. Getting through US preclearance was a doddle with the Global Entry kiosk and I had even more time to kill in the virtual USA of Dublin airport.

The flight wasn't full and I got two seats to myself. Aer Lingus had managed to translate my request for "Asian vegetarian" food into some sort of hair shirt vegan extremism, so it was dressing-free salad for me. Feeling virtuous, I dozed for hours. I'm sure I must have occupied myself in other ways too, but I honestly don't remember.

At Newark, New Jersey, a scant 7 hours later (that detail is for you, Ailsa) I strolled in to Dollar and picked up my hire car. It's a hundred and something miles to Phoenixville, it's grey and wet and dark is approaching. I do the journey in just under two hours.

Keith's out, so I gorge on a carry out Steak Royal from Liberty Square, the pizza joint at the end of the road. It's neither steak nor royal as we would understand it, but it's eight dollars of delightful mince and cheese baked in a pizza oven with veg and chilli. I crack into a bottle of house beer too, before falling into bed to grab some well deserved slumber.