Weather: rain first then weak sun in UK, cloud over North Atlantic, partial cloud over Canada, San Francisco hot & sunny
I awoke around 8am and took a relatively leisurely breakfast before dealing with the last of my packing. My initial intention had been to request a taxi for around 10.30 in order to make it to the bus station for the 11.00 departure to Heathrow, but upon calling the taxi firm (001 Taxis, at the recommendation of Kate Pugh, a friend who lives nearby), I was told that owing to potential delays on the roads, I should leave no later than 10.25.
As it happened, a taxi arrived outside the door at 10.15, and so I hurriedly readied myself and went out to the waiting driver. The journey was most uneventful with no significant delays, and in fact as I was paying the very reasonable fare of exactly five pounds, I noticed the 10.30 departure to Heathrow leaving.
I therefore had a little time to kill, which I did by nonchalantly browsing in the newsagent's adjacent to the bus station, before the next bus arrived and I was able to board.
I had read the previous day that the bus station in Oxford was ``falling apart'', with the support pillars that separate the eleven-year-old concourse from the subterranean carpark below slowly giving way. Fortunately it seemed in no hurry to collapse before my coach departed, right on time.
The journey to Heathrow took around 75 minutes, along relatively clear roads once we had left central Oxford. Once at Heathrow I made my way to the United Airlines check-in desk, situated right at the far end of Terminal Three. After a lengthy wait to check in, I made my way through to the departure lounge, and passed some time browsing the many shops, noting that many of the products offered ``duty-free'' were not significantly cheaper than in the duty-paid world outside, and that Harrods was not only exorbitantly expensive but had already produced a Christmas display. I was casually examining the more reasonably priced wares of Berry Brothers & Rudd when my flight was called and I made my way to the departure gate.
As expected, take-off was somewhat later than the advertised departure time, and we left the ground around 15.15 aboard a United Airlines Boeing 747-400. I was seated towards the rear of the steerage, sorry, economy class lounge, in an aisle seat with adequate but hardly generous leg-room despite having asked whether a more spacious seat was available.
The flight was relatively eventful, taking us over the west coast of Scotland, Iceland and Greenland. We reached the North American mainland at the top end of Hudson Bay and continued over the tundra and the Canadian plains, finally crossing the border into the US southwest of Calgary. At times an impressive view was available through the windows, and in between movies the video display showed our progress, monitoring air speed and external temperature as well as our position.
I passed the time reading, watching one of the movies (High Fidelity, a moderately interesting romantic comedy), partaking of the in-flight haut cuisine, and talking to my neighbour, a Scottish lady who after raising a family had started a PhD in Psychology at Stirling.
The plane landed on time at 17.30 local time, approaching San Francisco International Airport from the south, over the lower Bay Area. Following a wait for baggage reclaim, I proceeded surprisingly quickly through Immigration and Customs, having already filled in the necessary paperwork on the plane to testify that I was not a drug addict, terrorist or former Nazi. I did wonder whether any such people would complete the form truthfully.
Mark Lacy met me in the arrivals hall, and led me to his car, a small Mercury convertible. Despite a rather small boot, it was nevertheless sufficient to take my suitcase, and we set out towards the freeway for the drive to his home in Pleasanton, about an hour away to the east of the bay. It was a reasonably large one-bedroomed apartment within the so-called ``Valley Plaza Village II''. No-one seems to know what happened to the first of that name, quite possibly the whole site was stolen by aliens.
After freshening up on arrival, we went out in search of something to eat. Unfortunately it turned out to be the evening of Pleasanton's monthly ``faire'' [sic], and the main street was closed to motor vehicles so that a street party could take place. We passed a few restaurants but found them to be either full or not what I wanted at the end of such a long day, but eventually came across the ``Round Table'' pizzaria.
We both ordered the ``Gourmet Vegetarian'' pizza in the smallest available size, though I found even this a little too much in my by then very tired state, since my internal clock was telling me it was nearly 5am.
After dinner, we returned to Mark's apartment, and after sorting a few things out, I retired to bed.