MY SUMMER OF 2007 LOOKING BACK PART I

                 What does this box shown in this post have to do with the summer of 2007 real simple but first I'll explain.    

         I write this post as I'm on my break from 1 of multiple jobs I currently am employed at. I go back to my school job on Monday morning even though the students don't start until Wednesday having a back to school meeting before the year is usually a good thing. Catching up with colleagues on what they did during the summer is fun. I remember the year I went to England for a trip to visit my girlfriend at the time.

           It was in 2007 my girlfriend lived in Blackburn, England & going to visit her was a trip I'll never forget. I took off from Michigan about 4 hrs late due weather is what we were told only to find out later the pilot wanted another round to enjoy. We arrived in Atlanta just giving me about 1hr to get from my plane to catch my connection to Manchester, England. Now this was my first time going international flying I only have flown in the U.S.A. but it was short flights. After arriving I asked where to go after getting on the trolley to take me to where I needed to be at about 7 of us were informed that the flight was canceled until the next day.

              Well....I will just ask for another airline to take me instead I saw that a flight leaving for Manchester was leaving in 2 hrs survey says.......*buzzer sound* thanks for playing switching planes game that sir is for Manchester, New Hampshire. As I was already not happy being late getting to Atlanta then be told that's not my destination I screamed my head angryly saying "Put a Floopy Fleer Theo Fleury N.H. by the city name cause it's misleading when I think Manchester I think England not Bloody New Hampshire(no offense if anyone is from there but I had a point.)" 

          "Sir were terrible sorry we can't do anything like that." Says the guy behind the the counter. "Fine when is Manchester, England available" "7am tomorrow" "Fine book me that flight & give me a hotel room for my troubles" "Sorry all the hotels are booked but please have a complementary voucher for $5 for anything you might like to buy at the gift shop."

        Everything at the gift shop was more than $10 then I looked closely at the voucher only good for flights in the USA not for international flights. Can this trip get any worse before you answer keep reading. So the next day after calling my girlfriend to tell her I'd see her in 2 days later than I was supposed to she wasn't happy about going back to airport again but I told her it wasn't my fault.

          I finally after 14hrs & 1 day late arrived in Manchester I was excited to see my girlfriend again it been over a year since I last saw her in person cause she came to the USA the year before. So I was the 2nd person off the plane went through customs answering everything they asked then they said do I know the person whom I am staying with phone number my mind went blank. A little traveling advice don't air dial like you would making a phone call I did it & the customs agent wondered what I was doing then after explaining the situation he understood. They said sit back as they tried to reach my girlfriend. Unbeknownst to me she was at the airport waiting patiently for me watching others from the flight come through & no sign of me also she had her phone off afterall I didn't need to call her after I arrived so the customs agent told me that she didn't answer. 

               Great I'm stuck in customs & couldn't call her cause at the time didn't have a cell phone at the time & the agent said that they try again in 5 minutes well the last of passengers were off the plane through the gate except yours truly. My girlfriend was going to call my parents to be sure I wasn't lying saying I come to England but didn't. So she turned her phone back on notice a strange number called & was about to call it & enquire who was calling her when the same number popped up again ringing she answered it "Yes I'm expecting an American visitor from Michigan he's where oh alright thank you" I then was released to her. Needless to say I had a great time visiting England seeing things I only heard about & seen in books,television,etc.....  the weirdest thing was watching the All-Star Game where Ichiro was voted MVP after hitting the first inside the park home run in All-Star Game history at 2am Blackburn time.  Now coming home from England I'll save that for another day believe me I guarantee you will saying I'm good at leaving cliff hangers on my posts.

          Now the only other good thing coming from that trip was winning on ebay a box of the 2002 Upper Deck 40-Man after staying up as late as 4am Blackburn time to snag this little box from an unknown competitor.  So stay tuned until my next installment. Until then I leave you a quote from Rogers Hornsby who talks about signing Autographs for kids. "Any ballplayer who doesn't sign Autographs for little kids isn't An American. He's a Communist."