Up at 6am to catch the train. Had time to phone home and just caught ma, pa and Andrew. They'd been home an hour after their plane was delayed from Greece. An omen perhaps ? Yes, the train was an hour late. We got on and found ourselves surrounded by an army of kids, most notably Nathan (Bart) and Leila (Lisa). We then spent most of the exceedingly long journey convincing them we were John Cleese (aka Bob) and Eric Idle, the long lost twins sons of Queen Elizabeth II, refused to give our ages and confused them as to our destination. English humour, don't you just love it ? Homer (their dad) occasionally thought the kids were getting out of hand and kept ordering them to be quiet and sit down. Well, it worked for about 10 seconds.
The train got later and later, even switched on to the tracks of another railroad for a while, added two Santa Fe engines to get up a hill and refused to gain any time. The only consolation was a brown haired girl sat opposite with cheekbones like geometry and eyes like sin, Wooarrhh.
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| Making our own fun |
Late into Fullerton, Oz had time to phone his cousins and tell them we would be on the next train into Del Mar. Finally got off at Del Mar into the Californian sun, which could be best described as cool and a bit dull. Just like the sinful geometry girl. Oz phoned Cheryl and Suzy and we prepared for a 10 minute wait. And then waited another 10, and another, and another....they eventually turned up and we all went, like, you know, for a burger. Couldn't stay at their house so we phoned around motels. $50 was the cheapest we could find. It was a bit too posh really but we did get a good nights kip.2011
Andrew - youngest brother Andy, a mere 15 at the time.
You all know who Bart, Lisa, John Cleese etc are so I won't discuss it any further other than to say that in those days you had to make your own amusement. Being the father of a Bart and Lisa I know what the dad was going through. Actually ours were more Charlie and Lola.
$50 - One of the most expensive nights of our whole world trip I think.
I've just noticed that it was breakfast we were having on the train. I remember ordering the traditional american breakfast delicacy of "grits" and being advised not to by the waitress. The waitress was right.
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