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"LIVING" in the moment... Part I

I arrived in Manchester England in early June. I was the last person in the visiting passport line--always the longer of the two; the people returning home breeze back through to normalcy.

After mounting the zig-zag patterned shuffle for the next 45-minutes, I made it to the front.  But sadly the officials held me in security for another 2 hours.  As luck would have it, I was in holding with a disgruntal guy in camouflage fatigues, my personal nightmare -- this guy and me representing the United States. He was yelling about discrimination and his wooden leg; his bitter dialogue matched his bitter smell and I kept asking him to calm down; I truly felt he was affecting my chances of entering the UK. I felt pathetic, oily and exhausted... I kept reassuring myself that time had to pass, for sure this was no exception.

I passed the test, and was reunited with my luggage. Delirious on 19 hours and 45 minutes of extra awakeness,  I combed the line of chauffeurs with named signs to find my driver. The 1-hour van ride with Miss Sarah-Yvonne; who turned out to be one of my best comrades over the next 13-weeks, is a blank. I later learned that I talked -- a lot, I was so tired and unaware that I began to overcompensate. Good manners towards my new colleague became an overly-gregarious streaming consciousness.

My flat was a 3-storey unit sharing walls with the four other Bond Street units, 260 through 264
After pulling a not-awake 'Goldie Locks' search of the place, sitting, rolling and testing all three beds, I chose the street view 3rd floor room, facing the roller coaster.  I would later come to know the screams beginning at 9 a.m. were a package deal.  After a while however, they were no longer part of my awareness, like a creaky floorboard or a dripping sink it was part of the picture also my alarm clock and insurance that I would never be late for work.

We got into a lot of random exploring and we did things adults might not consider mature, or appropriate but we were "LIVING" as my friend Joe would refer to our unconventional fun.

"Messy TWISTER" on the front lawn: A function of Joe's 'Bucket List'
 

The Players
 
The First round
 
The Sister

The Two Best Friends

The Tango
 
 
The End

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