London, UK: Day 1
Team Shadowboat landed at London Heathrow Airport outside London, UK, the morning of April 27, 2007, caught a black cab to King’s Cross Railway Station and then took a train Petersborough in the East of England. The multiple visas in our passports raised eyebrows at customs but the agents were entirely uninterested in our journey: “All you have to say is you’re here on ‘pleasure,’ sir.” The cab drivers suspected nothing.
Steven’s sister, Jo Nozzer, met us at the train station in a Rally-compact Ford Fiesta. We hugged awkwardly and loaded our hundreds of pounds of baggage. Jo drove us home to Stamford expeditiously and without concern. Hedge rows washed past as the wheels ground into their wells about the curves.
The Nozzer family greeted us at their home named “Valley View” as it overlooks a tumble of rolling green and gold hills and fields. Baby photos of Steven and Jo decorate the walls. We ate pasta and watched the BBC together in the living room. After dinner I offered to wash up per Steven’s States-side instructions. Val insisted it was quite alright that we should, instead, go out with Jo for a pint in Great Casterton.
Downtown was cold. The buildings were tall, magnificent and old. The pub was decorated like someone’s grandmother’s library yet both young and old mixed around the tables. It was not something you would see in the US. The cider was inexpensive and refreshing!
After a drink or two we were approached by another American. He quickly related to us his distaste for the British as a people, unflinching in his criticism despite Jo’s presence. He complained that no one accepted him in his residence as a Lockheed Martin employee with a local manufacturer. The conversation was awkward. We retreated to Valley View shortly thereafter.