Seattle – Day 10

Wow, I still can’t believe I have been here ten days – it certainly doesn’t seem it. However, I feel I want to move on now. I have seen old friends in Chris and Charlie again. I have made new friends in Mike, Miguel, Andy, Mark, Andrew, Eric and Brendon. The dynamic has changed and a change is required. So today is the Chicago plan.

I spent most of the day glued to a dog slow Apple Mac (what is all the fuss about?) booking things for tomorrow. I eventually got a flight booked, one night in Chicago International hostel – because they were full over the weekend, two nights in the HI Chicago hostel – after the weekend and two nights in a hotel/resort out in Itasca – about 26-28 miles outside downtown Chicago.

The hotel stay will be my “luxury chill” where I hope to catch up with some of the blog entries I am falling behind with. I will also make use of the pool, sauna and gym while I’m there.
After getting everything booked – which did take about six hours (because I was careful and checked some feedback) – I went in search of food.

[I have found the feedback given in all the cases of hotels or hostels to be most useful. The hotel I chose was not the cheapest but seemed to be the best for the money (discount rate as it is out of season) and one of the hotels I considered is apparently next to a landfill site and stinks – according to the feedback. I just wanted a chance to ease from the high of the good times I had had in Seattle into whatever I might experience in Chicago.]

I can safely make an observation about America now:-
Like the ravens at the Tower of London – 80% of all American males must be wearing baseball caps at all times. If this does not happen: the union will dissolve into chaos, disorder, and a surplus of baseball caps. The sad bastards seem to treat them like cancer ‘phones and must keep them on at all times and in all places – probably whilst, swimming, screwing, taking a shower and certainly taking a dump. One can tell which ones have valid ID to be able to buy liquor (i.e. over 21 years of age) because they have learned to put them on properly (mostly).

Right, defamity over; I wandered back to the hostel soaking up the last atmosphere of Seattle.

My experiences here had been really good and will stay in my memory for a long time. The hostel is superb and has some wonderful people working in and passing through it – with a few exceptions – and the people in the local shops seem to recognise when one has been around for a while – or perhaps it is just my striking looks and manner! (Yeah, choke on it people – I did.)

I said farewell to the social room and took a picture of the mural on the far wall which was a superb encapsulation of God Past and the Holy City of Seattle (one might not be able to see from the shrunken picture that the clock on the market reads 25) which apparently was painted by a Korean who drank vodka all day and was near permanently pickled. This information was told to me by Mike the cook – who came for a fortnight and has been there four months. I can easily understand how and why. It is a place I could return to and work for my keep, thus requiring very little money to live.

I drank my final beer, played my farewell game of pinball, had a farewell smoke with all the guys and exchanged email addresses with them.

I got to bed just before midnight and everything was ready for me to just gather up and go in the morning – I had arranged everything in order so I didn’t have to make much noise and disturb anyone in the morning.

So I said “goodnight” to my last night in Seattle and didn’t remain sleepless.