September 4

September 4

We congregated at Gatwick Airport, laden with birthday cake, Maggie-H-Tew-inspired goodie bags (Nature Valleys, Lucozades, Ace magazines) and outrageous expectations. In particular, we hotly anticipated the arrival of Izzy's inflight Vegetarian Hindu Meal which we had ordered for her in advance, but the good folk of Icelandair had other ideas and chose instead to teach us some harsh lessons about the Hin-dos and Hin-don'ts of airline cuisine.  Left to starve during our 10-hour flight to Boston Logan, we were briefly relieved by a stopover in Reykjavik Keflavik.  Sophie was struck by the sweet sweet air of Iceland, which she resolved to store in tiny syringes on the return journey; Clare, in desperation, spent sixteen euros on a miniature portion of premium sushi before cracking and opening up the Icelandair Pringles.

Ratty and sugar-deprived, we were harassed by petty bureaucrats reminiscent of Andrew who accused us of lying about the nature of our stay in the US.  This was merely the first of many attempts to explain to bemused locals about our niche racquet sport venture. Audrey shepherded us capably towards the Alamo car hire zone, where we were given the keys to a frighteningly large Japanese SUV by a cheery man who saw no problems in loaning a pristine vehicle to four incompetent English girls.  Imagine his surprise and fear when Clare nervously bunny-hopped around the subterranean car park, nearly mowing down two innocent Alamo officials. She then attempted to drive through Boston, ignoring several one way systems, an electronic toll gate and derisive snorts from irate Yanks.  The journey was made infinitely more complicated by Jonny 'why is he here exactly?' Whitaker's petty insistence on being picked up from Boston Tennis and Racquets Club (the first in a long series of minor and mid-range annoyances of Whitaker's making). We finally arrived at our friend Emily's house in downtown Somerville and promptly kicked her out of her new home, after demanding a beer or two.

Clare and Sophie