It made me sad to leave, but that's how it goes.
Saturday
I woke up early on Saturday because I needed to be out by the airport to catch the Greyhound to Atlanta. I checked out of the hotel and against my better judgement I got a cab instead of a ride share car... The cab driver charged me $10 less than the guy who brought me into the city... I'm not sure if this is a time of day thing that caused it, comparing Wednesday afternoon before peak hour to early Saturday morning, but it was a lot less than the other guy charged.
I arrived at the Greyhound station, got my ticket and sat down to wait for my bus... Waiting for mass transit and interstate transit is never really fun, I'm not sure it is meant to be, when you consider how sterile and bland and kinda annoying airport lounges are (for the plebs anyway) and how run-down, crappy and full of riffraff that bus stations are, sitting and waiting for an hour can kind of be a harrowing experience... Memphis Greyhound Terminal was not this at all... Yes, it was still relatively bland, but when compared to other bus stations I've been to, it was clean, it was spacious (so I wasn't having to deal with others sitting on top of me) and it was safe... And some pretty humourous conversations went down, just from overhearing others.
To pass time I began reading my book, but got stuck when I read a passage with the word 'materiel' in it, I had always thought that the correct spelling was 'material', but whatever... I did get stuck for a good 10 minutes scratching my head as to why such a mistake could be made... I mean, spelling and grammar is one of my pet peeve items (mine may be awful, but I make an effort to try to keep it correct for the most part). I hate text speak, I try to write in full sentences as much as possible, and spelling shouldn't be that hard...
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As an aside, I own a book called Heritage: A recent history of the Port Adelaide Football Club by Chris Niehus, as much as this book was alright for glossing over the recent history of the club (through the dark years up until the Primus administration, I don't believe it includes his inglorious exit from the club) it was riddled with spelling errors, grammatical errors and worst of all for me was continuity errors... It was clearly edited by someone who didn't have an understanding of football or the players names... There was a point where the same quote was attributed to two different people within about 3 pages of each other... There was a point where a sentence ended half way
through, a new paragraph started, and the sentence just continued as though nothing was wrong... There was the inexplicable error of writing the name Stuart Dew correctly in one chapter, then in the next chapter calling him Stewart Dew, and then several chapters later returning to calling him Stuart again...
It is on a subject which is near and dear to me, but because it was so poorly edited and fact checked it is absolutely unreadable!
This aside wasn't so much to illustrate how poor that book was to me, it was more to illustrate how annoyed I get about spelling and grammar... Though I am my father's son...
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... As I struggled with the word 'materiel' some people came and stood by me, a guy wearing a hat with facial hair and a girl holding onto a small guitar. Their conversation was riveting.
"Does a bear eat in the woods?" Conversation of the Day:
Guy: "Yeah, I don't go camping, there are bears in the woods"
Girl: 'Yeah, but that's not a reason not to go'
Guy: "I have a friend who doesn't go swimming either for fear of sharks"
Girl: 'Right'
Guy: "I mean, don't go to the woods, you increase your chances exponentially of being attacked by a bear or shark..."
*Sam's ears prick up at the sound of a shark attack in the woods*
Guy: "... Also, bears are really dangerous, I heard this story about a woman who was living in a cabin in the woods and she'd feed the bears, like, leave out steak and that sort of thing. Anyway, eventually they got closer and closer to the house because she was leaving it closer and closer to the house, and then one day she didn't have any meat, the bears came right up to the cabin, knocked down the door and *makes bear claw swiping motion* ate her"
*passage of 2-3 minutes*
Random stranger to Guy: 'Sorry to overheard your conversation, but is that true? Did the woman really get killed'
Guy: "That is just what I heard"
Sam (interjecting unannounced): 'What I am more concerned with is the shark attacks in the woods... That isn't a world I want to live in!'
When I got my bus ticket earlier in the day I was given a boarding number and told that it would be called. So, I expected an orderly line up... I had boarding number 6, so I was expecting a wonderful seat... Well, someone walked through the gates with a Greyhound staff member and this not only sparked a panic and mass movement towards the gates, it also sparked the boarding process... So much for orderly, the line formed in about 10 seconds with people frantically snatching their bags and rushing to have their ticket taken... The girl from the above conversation left her friend behind and started chatting to me, both of us trying to make sense of the chaos around us.
Getting onto the bus I sat next to the girl who introduced herself as Jenna, as much as anything because she seemed sane when compared to other Greyhound riders... The guy in front of me was as close to the stereotypical sleepy Mexican from South Park as I've ever seen in the flesh...
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| The guy second from the right was sitting in front of me on the bus (and he slept virtually the entire way) |
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| Michael Stipe but with a less rockstar approach to things |
But we got rolling at 10 AM Central time, due to arrive in Atlanta at 6:30 PM Eastern time... Roughly 7 hours on the bus.
I had planned on reading my book and finishing it, but I barely read at all. Jenna asked where I was from, about my trip, and we got to talking... Without going into too much detail, we chatted for all but about an hour of the trip (this was designated as nap time), and the trip went so quickly as a result... She'd extensively travelled, from China across the Mongolian railroad all the way to Italy where she stayed and learnt a bit of the language and hitchhiked her way to Germany, to South America, to countless other places in between, it was really interesting listening to the stories of places she'd been and where she'd like to go. We chatted about the differences between Australian and American culture, and a few of the terms I used were explained, such as 'turned on the waterworks', 'Buckley's chance' (which lead to our Googling of the story of William Buckley) and a few other Australianisms. We discussed other things specific to Australia such as the Aboriginal cultures after I was asked if we had a segregated society in the same way they had previously, I gave her the history of that which I was familiar with, from the Stolen Generations all the way up to Sorry (she noted that this seemed like a pretty flimsy thing, just apologising). We chatted about music and film. I have made the mistake of coming over to the US without a working set of earphones, so, borrowing her headphones she played for me some Memphis punk music (which she was concerned would not be at all my speed) and I played some Australian music which I had on my phone, INXS (no guesses on which song I had on my phone) and Hunters & Collectors 'Blind Eye' (I wish I had Holy Grail on my phone).
About half way through the early part of the trip (near Tupelo, the birthplace of Elvis Presley) Michael Stipe behind us asked about whether or not the Grand Jury had come back yet with an indictment for the Ferguson shooting, which I had absolutely no idea about.
Edit to original text: The Ferguson Grand Jury verdict was handed down during my time spent in Atlanta and before the posting of this blog entry, it sparked rioting, general discontent and also peaceful demonstrations with a racial undercurrent due to the failure of the jury to hold the white policeman accountable for shooting an unarmed black teen... I don't know enough about the story to comment, but for the sake of completeness I am including it at this point as this has happened.
Jenna and Stipe spoke back and forth for a while and then he went back to his business (though not after talking about him being a Vietnam War protester and how history repeats)... At the Tupelo stop when I was standing up he started talking to me, asked me where I was from and whatnot. Stipe was going back to St. Petersburg, Florida where he grew up. When he worked out I was Australian he started going on and on about Tony Abbott saying how he was a good guy for having the balls to stand up to ISIS and Vladimir Putin... I personally think Tony Abbott is a dickhead, but that's just me, enough people apparently voted for him to put him in office (though everyone I speak to says they didn't)... I'd rather Tony Abbott didn't piss off Vladimir Putin because he seems more unstable than Abbott does, but I've not kept up with Australian news at all, so, who knows, it might have ended well... Is Brisbane a smoking nuclear crater yet?... One thing I found hard to deal with with Stipe was how he spoke, kind of like a cross between the actual Michael Stipe's voice and Boomhauer from King of the Hill (the link is a good demonstration of what I was dealing with)... It took me a while to work out what he was saying most of the time...
With the bus about to leave and Jenna returning she asked him where he was coming from and where he was going, he was coming from (apparently) living in the woods near Glendale, Arizona for 3 years. That prompted this exchange:
Stipe: "Yeah, I was living in the woods out near Glendale for 3 years" *read 10x faster for effect*
Jenna: 'Right'
Sam: "Were there many bears in the woods?" *Sam starts snickering, Jenna smirks, Stipe answers deadly seriously*
I guess the in-joke only worked for those who knew what the joke was... We both questioned the validity of Stipe's claim, considering he was wearing decent clothes (though they were all sports clothes, like what you'd go running in)... I think Jenna was kind of scared of the guy (he didn't really fill me with confidence either to be honest), without saying those exact words she expressed some concern over Stipe trying to sit next to her on the bus down to Orlando (she was riding the bus to Orlando, Stipe was heading to St. Pete)... I commented on the snickering that took place, she hadn't heard that word either and the conversation rolled on until Birmingham, Alabama where the bus stopped for lunch (30 minutes on my ticket, 45 minutes in practice)... The options for lunch were not many, so taking advantage of a wonderful meal deal offered by the Greyhound cafetorium (Note: not real name of cafeteria), I paid $5 for a hotdog with cheese, fountain drink AND a bag of potato chips... The cheese was disappointing... I forgot that in America they give you that liquid cheese which isn't real cheese... Really disappointing times...
The bus rolled out of Birmingham (with Stipe having changed seats) and on towards Georgia. The scenery and foliage passing by were really nice, although I felt like I'd seen a lot of the Georgia backwoods through watching episodes of The Walking Dead... The Georgia backwoods in The Walking Dead haven't had any bears or sharks... This portion of the trip there was an hour that was designated, rather arbitrarily, as nap time. So, I read for about 5 minutes in the failing light and then slept for a period. I woke up to a massive traffic jam about 10 miles outside of Atlanta, it was about 6:15 PM and I was being picked up by some extended family at 6:30 PM... Regrettably by the time I worked out that it was going to be a jam that made me late by over 25 minutes and I texted to let them know it was far too late in the game and they were already at the bus station... I felt awful about making them wait but I couldn't control the bus schedule or the traffic and what it was is what it is... The trip ended with me trying to explain the weird terms in Waltzing Matilda to Jenna (she seemed to particularly enjoy Swagman, mostly due to the use of the word 'Swag'... I'm sure the contemporary use of the word is what Banjo Patterson intended when he penned it) and explaining that Australia loves it because it is about stealing sheep...
From there we said our goodbyes and having entered the terminal, we went our separate ways (I would later find out that Stipe did indeed try to sit next to her on the bus to Florida... Jenna told him no... Good on you Jenna!)... Recall earlier I said how nice the terminal was in Memphis, well, Atlanta's is downtown and much like Mos Eisley Spaceport, seemed like a wretched hive of scum and villainy, and you must be cautious... I could never recall meeting the extended family members who were picking me up, so when I saw a white male dressed coming towards me and pointing at me I was pretty sure they were after me to follow them to their car. I felt awful about causing them to wait in the Atlanta Spaceport (when apparently they were hit up multiple times for spare change and Scott was grabbing his wrist to cover his watch). I met Lulu (Louise), who is the sister of my Aunt Anita, and their youngest daughter Lila (Lila Persia). I was to be known as 'Adelaide' due to my city of origin (they also had originally intended to hold up a sign with that written on it, but thought better of it when it was considered that a female of the same name may walk up at random).
Arriving at their house 15-20 minutes later I met their middle daughter, Khea, who is back from college in Florida for the Thanksgiving break. Their oldest daughter, Harmony, lives out of home somewhere else in Atlanta. I stowed my gear in my allotted room, and I made it back up for dinner which was chicken and chips (and there were greens but you guys know me well enough by now)... My plans for Atlanta came up and I said I was going to the football on Sunday, and wanted to go on a Walking Dead tour which was run by Atlanta Movie Tours, but it was a 3 hour tour beginning at 9:30 AM and I had already paid for my ticket to the football (which I had to pick up from the arena, kickoff was at 1 PM). They suggested that I look up where the tour left from, and upon working out that it departed and ended a handful of blocks away from the Georgia Dome I made my booking. So, tour and then football on Sunday!
Their house is beautiful and huge, I could use a bathroom here every day for a week and still not have used all the bathrooms in the house... After dinner we went downstairs to the 'theatre room' and watched a film off of Netflix. The film we settled on was called Stretch, about a down and out limo driver who has to come up with $6,000 to settle a gambling debt or he'd get his legs broken or worse... Anyway, I was in hysterics for portions of the film... It wasn't the greatest film under the sun, but I'd recommend it... Chris Pine plays this batshit crazy billionaire who goes on these massive kinky sex romp parties (although you don't see any of that, but it is implied)... His role in Stretch did make more sense than his Star Trek co-star Zachary Quinto's Spock after meeting old Spock at the end of the JJ Abrams re-make, but lets not get into that (if you wish to discuss the time paradox holes in that film then please see me after class)... Anyway, I am not sure if it has been released in Australia yet, but for those of you wanting a bit more of Stretch, HERE is the trailer.
After the film I made it to bed (in the room I was in was a TV set bigger than the one I have at home though I won't use it during the duration of my stay because I feel as though I'm putting everyone out by my being here)... It was about 11:30 PM and I had to be up for a big morning the following morning... Welcome to Atlanta!
Sunday
I woke up, showered and rose for breakfast which was pancakes, and later, chocolate chip pancakes... (Note to Chris: We need to do this when I get home)...
It was a cold day in Atlanta, meant to rain for large portions of it and not really getting any higher than about 11 degrees. So much for the beautiful warm weather of the South!
Getting in to the city we basically drove past the Georgia Dome on the way to the offices of Atlanta Movie Tours, so I knew where I was situated and knew it would not take long to get to the Dome (I also figured I could just follow the crowds at that point).
I checked in for the tour I had booked and waited around the offices for a short while chatting to the staff, then we began our tour.
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| "Hollywood South" - Atlanta has had a bunch of TV shows and films shot there recently |
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| One for you Chris |
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| The bridge Rick walked over in Season 1 |
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| Entry to TWD's post-apocalyptic Atlanta |
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| On the far right... Disappointingly he didn't look as 70s when on the tour though |
Australian on Australian 'shut up' Moment of the Day:
Patrick: "Is everyone up to date on the series?"
90% of the bus: 'Yes'
Old Australian man with his wife: 'No, we are a few weeks behind, it hasn't been released at home yet'
*Other Australian guy doesn't know that I am Australian*
Sam (from the back of the bus): "No that's not true, we have the episode aired in Australia about an hour after it airs here, sometime in the middle of Monday afternoon... We are up to date"
Old Australian: 'Are you from Australia?'
Sam: "Yeah"
Old Australian: 'Travel half way around the world and we still see Australians, they're everywhere'
Sam: "Yeah, trying to avoid Australians is the very reason I left as well"
90% of the bus: *polite laughter*
Anyway, back to the tour... We jumped on the bus and headed to our first stop, this was meant to be 'the Goat Farm' where the Vatos held camp during Season 1, but this was unavailable due to someone shooting a film/TV show there, so we were given a substitution on our tour, and that was the location at the end of Season 4/start of Season 5, 'Terminus'. To be honest I didn't know what the Goat Farm was when I read the brochure, so I wasn't too devo about this substitution... 'Terminus' is actually located at the site of Collier Metals LLC just South of downtown Atlanta. We were shown (from the other side of the fence), the box-car which lent its name to the title of an episode set here... 'A'... And in doing so saw the actual box-car that was used in holding the group prisoner during their stay at Terminus. Patrick said that he was one of the humans who got to drag Rick (Andrew Lincoln) to the slaughter room, and because he was seen as a human during the series it probably precluded him from being a walker (if you check out his IMDB page which I linked earlier you can see a shot of him as a walker, apparently he is prominent in the Season 2 highway horde).
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| Terminus box-car A |
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| Back side of Terminus |
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| Awful, AWFUL, photograph of where the name Terminus was painted during filming |
From here we went back uptown to the downtown area and saw the streets which were used during Season 1 when Rick enters Atlanta and rides the horse into the zombie horde, and on the same street the department store in which they get stuck... When Rick is riding his horse it seems like more than 2 blocks, but this is a trick of the camera... What actually happened was they had him ride down one side of the street, and then switched the cameras and had him then go down the other side of the street.
Walker Humour Story of the Morning:
Patrick: "They had the street blocked off for a day or two, and all the businesses on that street could not open, so, basically what happens is the production company goes to the businesses and says 'Hey, we have the street for filming, so, yeah, here's a big cheque, enjoy your day off'. You may have seen the hair salon we passed by earlier 'Oh! My Nappy Hair', well, they successfully got to all their clients and told them that their appointments were cancelled on that day... All of them except for one... Who managed somehow to get by the police telling pedestrians to avoid the area, the production crew and turned the corner and was confronted with a street full of walkers... This was during a break in filming, they were moving the cameras or changing the angles or something, but a few of the extra made up as walkers have a good sense of humour, so seeing the fresh meat they went after her, growling and walking like zombies. She completely flipped out. Eventually the production crew found her and calmed her down and told her that they were shooting a TV show and it wasn't the real zombie apocalypse."
I laughed at that story much harder than I should have... Mostly due to the good humour of the extras... But you have to ask yourself how you'd react in the shoes of the woman not knowing it was a TV show after innocently making it to the salon through several lines of security...
From downtown we headed up to the administration building for TWD during their first season. They have since moved. Though this building doubled as the King County Sheriff Department where Rick takes Morgan and Duane to shower with hot water in Season 1 and gives Morgan the rifle to shoot his wife... Fun fact, there is no such place as King County in Georgia, it is a reference by Robert Kirkman to one of his favourite authors, Stephen King...
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| "King County Sheriffs Building" |
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| Back side of the building where Rick had to put down his former colleague |
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| Hospital from the first season of TWD |
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| Looks very run down even without all the CGI... And so does the hospital... |
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| Georgia Lottery TWD Scratchies |
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| This is how they get you... You get bit by the scratchies, you're still walking, but you're dead inside... |
Andrew Lincoln - The Extras Hater
I asked Patrick the question about whether or not he'd been killed in the show as a zombie, qualifying that I understood he was already dead but whether he'd been killed again. He said not in hand to hand combat, but he went down a few times when the zombie horde went through Hershel's farm. Apparently during the filming of one of the scenes where the zombies get into the prison one of the extras for knocked out cold by Andrew Lincoln (aka Rick Grimes)... In order to get the shots of the main characters wielding machetes and other killer instruments they hold onto machetes with a full handle but a fake blade which is about an inch long, and they swing them, the extras go down, and the blood and brain matter (and the rest of the machete) are added in post-production... On the occasion above the fake machete got a little too close to the actor and he got knocked out cold... Apparently he got a bit more cash that day... I don't actually know which scene it is, otherwise I'd look it up, but apparently in the show the head gets cut in half clean but then in the next shot the head is completely back on in one piece... 100 points if you can find that continuity error
On their escape from the CDC when the place was about to explode apparently Andrew Lincoln stepped on a few of the extras (who were strewn around the front lot in various states of undead)...
Andrew Lincoln, extras hater...
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| "The CDC" |
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| CDC Sam |
An extra doesn't make that much... Much less than I expected anyway... Apparently it is about $90 a day, time and a half after the 12 hour mark (although if Andrew Lincoln knocks you out cold then you get a bit more)... In the clip above of the Anchorman 2 fight scene, the scream before the fight began apparently counted as a line for Screen Actors Guild purposes, so he pocketed a lot more that day because he had a speaking line in the film!
We then made our way to the Jackson Street Bridge for our wonderful shot of the Atlanta skyline... Unfortunately the day we were there is was rainy and overcast and many of the buildings were obscured by clouds (the Monday here in Atlanta was glorious weather, if only, if only!)... But I'll let you be the judge of the crapness or passability of the photos
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| Obscured Atlanta skyline |
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| Surprisingly my presence in this shot does nothing to further obscure the skyline because it is barely visible anyway |
This was where the tour basically ended, we got on the bus and played trivia games for prizes... Given that you were only allowed to win one prize I stopped answering questions after I won one, but there was much silence... It wasn't the most knowledgeable crowd save for a few girls at the front of the bus... I won a Hunger Games District 13 bandana for correctly answering that Morgan's son's name was Duane... I'm not really into the Hunger Games, I've seen the first film, but not the second... I am not yet sure what to do with the bandana... If I haven't sold it or given it away PM me and let me know your bid...
We drove through a street which was the setting for the 'double tap' scene from the film Zombieland with Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg... I really liked this film as well, if not for going to the football I'd have probably taken the tour which took us out to more of the sites from that film...
Final facts:
-The prison isn't a real place, it was just a set built onto one of their administration buildings based away from Atlanta... It has since been deconstructed...
-TWD producers don't like your zombie walk to be a Frankenstein style arms out in front walk, or a arm crouched in whilst dragging a leg style walk... You'll learn all of this in zombie school...
-Atlanta has had a massive boom of productions recently due to tax breaks offered by the Georgia State Government... 20% tax break for filming in Georgia, and a further 10% if you add the 'filmed in Georgia' logo at the end of the credits
As the tour had finished, and finished early for that matter, I made my way a few blocks following the crowds past the tailgate parties to the Georgia Dome. It was a weird entry to the arena, I had to go up to go down (as in, there are gates which enter you to the mezzanine level as opposed to the bottom level... There are gates on the bottom as well, but I had to go to Will Call to pick up my ticket before I dealt with any of that)...
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| The Georgia Dome. The construction site in the foreground is the base of the new arena being built. |
Anyway... Entering the arena was another major ball breaker, as I have become accustomed to in the USA, when entering any sporting arena you have to take everything out of your pockets (so, for me, that is phone, wallet, passport, camera, any touristy stuff I have in my pockets, and if I am wearing a watch I must take that off), get scanned with a metal detector and then you can pass to the ticket scanner... It was pelting with rain, I had all those things in my hand, though I was trying very hard to keep them dry (failing for the most part) and my ticket which was in an envelope was probably going to be unreadable by the time I got to the ticket scanner due to the deluge of water... But, I did make it in successfully, and began the long trek to my seats, which were about 6 rows from the back of the top deck, behind the endzone, at the other end of the arena... The seats weren't awful, but I was struggling a bit to make out the players at the far end of the field. (And later in the game my section, 334, won a prize, which was everyone winning a $55 voucher to Aaron's, which is a Radio Rentals style printing money shop... I guess they figure people sitting in the nosebleeds would be the kind of people to rent furniture and appliances and pay huge amounts of interest!)
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| View from the nosebleeds |
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| Browns enter the Dome |
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| Atlanta offensive starters enter the arena |
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| National Anthem |
The pre-game was funny for me, mostly due to the presentation... Samuel L Jackson told the fans to get rowdy, and to do what Falcons do... Rise Up! I was just waiting for him to drop the MF word like he does in all those movies... It really is a continuous surprise that Mace Windu didn't rave about the MF force and the MF midi-chlorians in Star Wars...
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| Rise up MF'ers |
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| Go you MF Falcons! |
The game kicked off and both offences started relatively slowly... With the Browns getting on the board first, then the Falcons hitting back, and then the Browns again getting up, and the Falcons again hitting back... As much as the first half was slow due to both teams relatively slow offences it was not boring, there was an interception or two, a fumble... By half time it was 14-13 with Atlanta leading... Below are some of the best moments I captured in the first half:
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| Matt Ryan snaps the ball |
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| Atlanta on offence |
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| Long time Tom Brady backup Brian Hoyer |
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| Crowd banner after Atlanta TD |
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| FUMBLE!! |
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| And the Browns have it |
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| Touchdown Cleveland |
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| This is something I can get behind, progressive scores |
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| TD Atlanta |
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| Falcons celebrate the pick |
The Falcons were driving with less than 2 minutes to go, down 21-23, and were in a great position to run down the clock and kick the field goal to win it... With 0:55 left on the clock the Falcons coach, Mike Smith, called a timeout and stopped the clock... He didn't need to do this... The Falcons kicked their field goal to go up 24-23, but did give the Browns about 44 seconds to try to win it...
Here is what happened in pictures and videos:
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| State of play before the kick-off |
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| Hoyer sets up for the game-winning drive |
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| State of play |
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| Browns set up for the game winner |
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| Handshakes and celebrations |
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| Gearing up for the outdoors |
There was a bloke next to me all game named David, he had been to Australia and was all about telling me how good it was, how he cleaned up in Australia with his accent, all the places I should go in Atlanta (telling me that I should go to the hipster part of Atlanta because with my growing beard and my accent I'd have all the hipsters talking to me, though I am not sure I'd want that necessarily). He seemed like a nice enough guy, he was at the game with some friends spread over two rows, some Cleveland fans, some Atlanta fans, so he was preoccupied, but was still decent enough to chat to.
Final, Browns 26, Falcons 24
Leaving the Dome I was disappointed to find that it was raining heavier than I'd seen it all day. I pulled on my jacket and made my way into the rain... I walked by the CNN building and over to Olympic Centennial Park... All the while trying to avoid puddles as best as I could and try to stay under cover which was proving next to impossible given the crowds of people. My shoes were soaking wet by this point, my socks were getting wet through the shoes, and I had that uncomfortable feeling of walking on waterlogged shoes... The rain was heavier and heavier and water was flowing
The other issue I faced was that I was trying to find a place to be picked up, so I picked an arbitrary point on the map of Atlanta (the Hard Rock Cafe of all places) and made my way there to meet Khea who was picking me up to take me back to their house. So, after plugging in the coordinates to my phone I began making my way, but the rain made reading my phone impossible, and I wasn't able to use the phone properly to reply to messages asking where I was because the phone screen was damp, and my fingers were wet... I got messages from Khea liaising for the meeting point, I got a rather interesting Facebook message from home, and I tried replying to a couple of these at once...
Wet Hand Messaging
Khea: "I'm here, just turning around"
Sam: 'I'm about amyglkkcfkkiolo"
Getting into the car I took off my soaking wet jacket and sat down in the car, and we, along with Lila who had accompanied Khea shopping, made our way through a massive football related traffic jam home, there was also the issue of a crash on the I-75 North which closed two lanes of traffic but not with any kind of order (the prang was in the 2nd and middle lane of the 5 lane highway, trying to get a tow truck out there wasn't really efficient and it wasn't really safe either)... Due to the traffic it was a much longer trip than I had thought it would be, and wearing wet jeans and with sopping wet shoes and socks, it felt like longer than it actually was!
Eventually we got back, I got out of the wet clothes, dried as much as I could and then sat down for dinner. Roast... Been a good few weeks since the last time I had a good roast. Mum - you'll be happy to know that after much prodding I ate a vegetable that wasn't a potato... Though, I'm not sure it was enough to count it (half a carrot), and I'm not sure I should be given any real credit for something that everyone else does so readily... Anyway, neither here nor there...
After dinner Khea and I went down to the theatre room and watched the previous week's episode of The Walking Dead, and then the new episode of TWD.
I then spent a bit of time on the blog and went to bed.
A big two days, even though one was a travel day. The next two days were touring the other attractions in Atlanta... Sam Adelaide out... Stay tuned!
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