Greetings from the District of Columbia (that’s the DC bit after Washington)

Greetings from the District of Columbia (that’s the DC bit after Washington)
Sorry about my abrupt ending yesterday - you have no idea the pressure one is placed under when negotiating a timed internet booth!!! It gave me a warning at 5 minutes to go so I picked the pace up a bit, then it said 1 minute to go and I started to panic (and wished I had Joy's typing speed!), but when it said 30 seconds to go I went into major overdrive and managed to press "send" with 3 seconds to spare! I would have been pretty unhappy if I had lost everything and had to start again...anyway, that was yesterday... The torrential rain (we had between 5 and 7 inches in 12 hours) finally abated at about 6pm yesterday so Gaz & I took a stroll to a nearby restaurant and had a bite to eat and then came back to the room to do some washing. We had watched Get Smart earlier on TV as all the local stations & cable stations weren't working because of the storm...but of course the pay per view movie channel was working fine! The bad news re the laundry situation was that I must have left all my stuff (pegs, wash line, coat hangers, detergent etc) at the hotel in NY - quelle disaster! I will have to try to find some replacements in London - when I asked at the store here for pegs the lady thought I said pigs and offered me beef jerky - go figure! Anyway I washed and draped stuff everywhere and then stood with the hairdryer this morning trying to finish them off...not too successfully. I had a broken sleep last night thanks to our lovely children who decided to wish Gary a Happy Fathers' Day...at 2.30am our time! (I really didn't mind Al, and it obviously had little effect on Gary who said this morning "did I hear the phone ring last night?") Carly sent a text at the same time so I don't know if they were together or not. Alison, Danny, James & Carly have a meal roster happening so they seem to eat most meals together...I have heard rumours that there is a petition for it to continue when we return... After our buffet breakfast (loosen the belt another notch), we took a cab to Christ Church Episcopalian in Georgetown. What a quaint area! The church was extremely formal - ALL the men were wearing suits and ties and the language was all thys, thous and thees...reminded me of my Anglican church 40 years ago. They had a lovely choir and it was a nice service. We wandered around for a while (still searching for pegs!) and then took another cab (we have not had time to master the metro system here) and went to the National Archives (constitution, declaration of independence, bill of rights etc) and the National Art gallery. Both were very interesting but tuckered us out and we have returned to the hotel where we will be collected by shuttle bus in about an hour and then off to Dulles International Airport for a 7.5 hour flight to London. America has been great - things of note:1. the service is not that great even though they expect tips2. people are generally friendly...except bus drivers3. ALL meals & drinks are humungous4. EVERYBODY should see Las Vegas (& Grand Canyon) before they die Well, the countdown has started again. Love to all & we'll speak again...perhaps from London! loveP&G