I've never squeezed into a smaller plane than the 21 seater that took me to Scranton. Fortunately, I was able to claim the exit row for myself before the tobacco-chewing gentleman pursuing me down the ramp could get there first. He had his revenge by breathing in my direction for the rest of the flight.

It was still infernally hot when I reached Scranton and picked up my rental car, eventhough the sun was near the horizon and, Pennsylvania's endless forested vistas receded greyly into the coming hazy sunset. But I felt such a sense of joy and freedom in driving out into the highway, not knowing where I'd spend the night. At home my life is so circumscribed - work, friends, other responsibilities. I guess less circumscribed than most, despite that - no family close-by - no significant other.

I stopped for dinner in a family-style restaurant off the highway, and had a surprisingly good meal - the Twin Rocks Restaurant, in Lake Ariel - I reccommend the Chicken Grille :)

As the evening wore on, though, I began to uncover a slight flaw in my plans. Every inn and motel was full! Yikes. By 10.00 I was beginning to think that there was nothing for it but to drive on to a bigger city in Connecticut. But I was saved by the Best Western in - actually I'm not sure where it is. All I know is I got the very last room - the "Jacuzzi Room" I didn't anticipate spending $140 on overnight accomodation in rural Pennsylvania but at least it was relaxing!

Washington D.C. - Dulles Airport, Sunday, 4th July 1999 4.15 p.m.

Today was a good day to be traveling. For a start it's 92 degrees outside (it was only 32 in Toronto this morning :) So I'm spending most of the day in air-conditioned limos, planes and airport terminals (wasn't that a song?:). For another thing, there aren't many people traveling today so everything is low-key and easy, and the planes are half empty. In fact, most Americans seem to be at barbecues, leaving the airports for Brits and Australians.

I'm currently waiting for my flight to Scranton, Pennsylvania - a curious destination, I know. Well - that's the location of my rental car. Picking it up there is going to get me the car for 16 days at half the price of the same care in New York. I ate my customary chicken-caesar salad at TGI Fridays here. It was very strange. The staff seemed fascinated by my laptop for some reason. As I've mentioned at other stops, I've seen this before. I guess it's the combination of the little antenna sticking up the back and the little camera on the front. In TGIs though, I was sitting next to the kitchen, and this one guy kept bringing different people to the door of the kitchen to gossip about me and stare. Kind of annoying - and the salad was lousy too so stick it up ya TGIs.

Oi veh - a woman just made an elaborate detour to use the trash can to my right - what was wrong with the one right next to her I wonder - nosy so and so.:)

Traveling like this is hard on my diet. I try not to accept the carbohydrate heavy airline snacks, but I find flying so fundamentally depressing that I give in and gobble down the chips with a self-pitying greed :) Guess it's time to go on another run.

Toronto, Sunday, 4th July 1999 7.18 a.m.

Yesterday evening I went for a wonderful run. I had a sudden access of energy after our tiring day of shopping and just set off down the street, not knowing at all where I was going. The first part of the run was down the very quiet, lower middle-class (I'm British, ya know - we notice this kind of thing :) street where Eric & Eddie live. I was surprised by the Canadian flags prominently displayed on what seemed like one house out of two. I know it was Canadian National Day the other day, but still, I didn't realize Canadians were just as nationalistic as US citizens.

After I'd shaken the couple of giggling 10 year old girls who tailed me for the first 100 yards, I started to enjoy the quiet evening which was imperceptibly settling into dusk. On many porches sat old couples, trying to cool down in the humid fug of a July Toronto evening. In the distance you could still here the occasional distant thunder roll. The red-brick houses and the children playing in the street reminded me so much of England - in fact of my suburban childhood. It was one of those times you get a sudden rush of ennuie from some kind of trigger of the senses - a song, or a smell or, in this case the look and feel of a neighborhood.

After about a mile I came across what looked like just a school ground with a couple of fields, but I broke off to run in there, thinking it would be better for my knees. At the end of the field, a path led me through a parking lot and then into a much bigger park. As I kept on running I realized that this must be one of the connected parks through the river valley. It was such a lucky find, as I was soon running along the grass beside the first babbling brook of my trip (I LOVE babbling brooks - well who doesn't?) All in all I'd have to say this run was probably the most enjoyable one ever - and the best - 45 minutes. It's great to go running like this - not knowing quite where you're going

Oh - in yesterday's journal I made a small mistake - saying I thought Eric was a cutie. I meant Eddie. Actually, last night, I began to see that Eric is actually very goodlooking too.

And finally, ImLu sent me this great photo of when he, Brett and I had dinner together - Lord - was it only last weekend?