Lost, Locked Out, and Leaving

Many of you know that my life has oft paralleled that of George Costanza, in the sense that anything that could go ridiculously wrong in my life, will. My former supervisor once said something to me like, Katie if I heard any of these things from other people, I would think they were made up or completely exaggerated but with you, I know it happened exactly like that. Luckily I have met someone who is equally as unfortunate as I am and we fell in wuv…aawwww.

Anyway, many moments stand out in this past reunion with Rich as true Costanza moments so here are a few.

LOST:

Rich and I went to the London Science Museum and because we slept in, we managed to only arrive a few hours before it closed on New Years Eve. Around 3:30, only an hour after we arrived, we somehow got separated. There were car models everywhere and flashes of light, I got distracted and wandered off. It is exactly like the movies, I spun around noticing Rich was not at my side and couldn’t spot him. People walking by me were like blurs and whirring motions like taking a picture of something moving. I, of course, immediately panicked and ran from the room, looking desperately for him. I remember when I was young, I went to African Lion Safari with my class and somehow got split away from the group. I was lost for what seemed like an hour and I can’t describe to anyone that terrible sinking feeling (much like accidentally clicking reply all…) but some years later, that exact feeling came back to me.

Let me illustrate why I was in such a tizzy:

1.     Rich left his Canadian cell phone in my apartment in Reading

2.     We had not arranged meeting spot for emergencies like this

3.     I did not think he could get home, back to Reading, alone

4.     There was no way of contacting him or meeting up with him again, other than sheer luck of bumping into each other

Well it was a schmozzle. I waited for an hour and a half by the entrance of the museum when I decided to take higher ground to locate my friendly giant. I was approaching the psychoanalysis booth covered in penis sculptures when I spotted him the floor below on a bench. I walked back to collect him when I passed behind a statue and again like a movie, when I reached the other side of the statue, he had vanished. I was back to square one. Well another 30 minutes pass and I start to unabashedly cry at the entrance and ask the security guards to make an announcement. I was humiliated asking for a grown man to be paged, so I was tempted on saying he was my son, but if Rich did respond to the page then they would know they were swindled. So I settled for my exchange student. Roaring over the speakers came “Richard Thompson please come to the front entrance, Richard Thompson.” No show. 30 more minutes and the kind guard patted me and said if Rich was in the museum he would have heard it for sure. So the museum closed and I continued to linger on the streets before deciding to return to Reading. The entire time I am bbm’ing Sean, so he can talk me out of thinking Rich is dead or kidnapped.

After over three hours of being separated in a foreign country, I dragged my feet to my home, and Rich came walking toward me on my street. I ran to him and wept for almost as long as we were separated on the street lol.

Locked out:

Rich and I got home after THE longest day of trundling along the streets of England and we both had to use the facilities. Upon arriving home, he went to the kitchen and I remembered he forgot something and I ran to give it to him. I NEVER leave my room without my keys. Ever. Why, you might ask, because my door locks when it is closed. For the past two months it has never completely shut when I leave the room, so I have never needed to use my keys, but I take them as a precaution. With Rich visiting, I must have thrown caution to the wind because I forgot them in my room. Immediately locking us out. Luckily Rich doubles as a superhero and he managed to break into my room by slamming his shoulder into the wood, causing the latch to break and us to reenter the room. Good thing, I have more than one lock on my door!

Critters:

Halfway through our visit, I heard an intense scratching sound outside my window one night and grabbed Rich’s oblivious self. I had to draw his attention to what sounded like an invasion of badgers into my room. The sound soon dissipated and we went back to watching our beloved ER. The next night, the sound had travelled into what sounded like my closet. Rich is one of the bravest people I know when it comes to real threats and human dangers i.e. if I think someone has broken into the house, he immediately goes John McClane ready to kill or at least frighten away. BUT when it comes to insects or small critters, Rich is less like John McClane and more like Ron Weasley. I am not one who should be commenting, as I dislike dealing with real or imagined dangers but this was too funny. Neither of us wanted to open the closet so we were pushing each other forward until I woman’d up and threw open the door. Nothing was there, so we emptied the whole closet and blocked off any “suspicious” areas i.e. gaps in the carpeting. Later that night the sound had travelled again, and this time it was even closer and more real than ever. It had moved to a small cupboard in my room that blocks off the breaker switches. Again we laboured over who would confront the army of badgers, only to rip open an empty nook. I began talking aloud about what the sound must be, “Rich what if it’s a litter of kittens that a cat just had under my porch?” or “Rich, it could be a mouse that I could feed cheese.” Rich absently responded with, “or it could be a rat and ugh you don’t want those, they can be huge and –“ only cutting off when he realized the terror in my eyes as I began to freak out about having to battle the Black Plague on my own after he left in four days. Luckily, we have yet to hear the sound again…cue X-Files music.

Leaving:

Well Rich left. In true fashion, we woke up early, caught an earlier train, arrived at the airport early, and said goodbye too quickly. Rich crossed over the River Styx which I could not follow and I pathetically waved to him on the other side of the metal detector. My train wasn’t coming for another hour, so I read alone waiting for it to arrive. Finally, after settling into my train seat, I get an email to my blackberry from Rich saying his flight was delayed five hours. I had already pulled away from the station and could not return. I debated getting on another train back to the airport, but thought by the time I got back, it would be time for him to cross through security again. So, imagine my surprise when his flight was delayed again, for another three hours. Boo hoo.

Anyway, it was a wonderful visit and I only have to wait another eight months to see him again. Should be no problem…