I Love Denver In the Spring (or Ode to I-70)

Mile High Blues was this weekend!  Wooo hoo!  Loved seeing my dance friends again.  Hadn't seen many of them since I left Utah in 2009 to go back to England.  Was wonderful to reconnect.  And had a fantastic time dancing til the wee small hours of the morning.  The best blues is always around 3 am.  Ended up with some mild trauma driving home, though.  Oh, and by "home" I really mean campus, to teach!  I still haven't been to my place.  Won't get there til sometime after 7 this evening.  But, I-70 was a solid wall of snow from Denver to Grand Junction.  Took us 3 extra hours to drive it, since we could only go between 25 and 45 MPH the whole way.  Not fun.  And even at that, we ended up spinning out, doing a 180 in the road!  Fortunately we were going really slow, so we didn't have any problems.  Just a bit of excitement.  And it was the best possible location.  Flat area, no cliff, no traffic... as perfect a spinout as you could have.  We didn't even leave the road!  We just basically spun around to face the other way.  Seems like I always have this trouble driving home from Mile High Blues.  Must be trying to tell me something.... like I should stay in Denver with the awesome dancing.

Underground Blues

I had a traumatic weekend:  Lost my car keys, house keys, mobile phone and ipod (it's only a nano).  Thought I'd been pick pocketted, because they were all in the same pocket.  Was obviously distressed to discover them missing (especially the keys!) at 1.00 in the morning!  I was on my way home from London and started looking for my car keys (car was parked on the street, near the station - free parking on the weekends, but residents only Mon-Fri.)  No car keys.  No house keys!!!  The phone and ipod were secondary.  Anyway, walked home from the station, and had to wake my poor (lovely!) neighbour to get my spare key (SOOOOO sorry, D, if you're reading this!  And, THANK YOU for letting me in!) at 1.30 in the morning.  Thought, well . . . maybe I should ring the phone, on the off chance that they hadn't been stolen, but lost.  So, I dialled my mobile, and *shock* someone answered!  The manager for Charlotte St Blues (http://www.charlottestblues.com - go, if you're in London!) had found them - house keys, car keys, phone and ipod (but, no ipod headphones, for some reason) - and he would put them in the safe for me to collect!  Yeay!!!  Of course, I still didn't have car keys, but at least I knew where they WERE!

Not having keys was a bit challenging for Sunday.  Not only did I have to go to Chelmsford (30 minute drive) for church, but also, my car was in a weekend-only parking area!  So, my lovely neighbour came to my rescue AGAIN and helped me get back to my car and try my 'sudo' spare key.  Turns out, it will open the doors, and release the wheel lock, but it doesn't have an immobiliser chip (anti-theft device), so it won't turn the engine over.  Drat.  Ok, so came home and called the AA (Automotive Association).  They sent a recovery vehicle, and the man was SO nice and helpful.  Seriously made a stressful situation much easier.  He came to my house, gave me a lift BACK to my car, then hooked my car up to the tow-bar, and I steered whilst he towed me home.  Then, he parked the car in my drive!  And, he made total sure that I'd be ok, that if I needed to replace the keys I had a way to do that, or to get the keys back . . . really great.  I totally recommend them as a company!

So, still had the problem of getting to church.  Fortunately, Chelmsford Ward shares a chapel, and they're on the afternoon schedule at the moment.  I've never been so grateful for 2.00 church in my life!  Had a think, who do I know who'd be driving from Colchester to Chelmsford . . . umm . . . no one.  Ok.  What about Ipswich?  (Colchester's about 1/2 way between the two cities)  Ah!  2 of the Stake YW Presidency are in Ipswich (they're sisters.  Like, blood related. ) They're friends.  I can ring them!  And, G and H came to my rescue!  I called them my Damsels in Shining Armour!  They also get a total thumbs up from me.

Right, so what does this all have to do with Underground and Blues?  Well, I had to go back to London today to collect my keys.  And in the Underground there was a fantastic busker.  He was playing this crazy instrament (no idea what it is) and the music he was playing!  Oooh!  WHERE were my bluse friends when I needed them?!?  Cruel and unusual punishmenet to have me find such a fantastic bit of Blues Culture and NO ONE TO SHARE IT WITH!  Asked if I could take his photo, and he said, "Please do!"  He totally made my day!  :D