Work trip to Philadelphia, USA - 3rd to 5th September 2008

September started with a lengthy work trip to the US - involving being in Philadelphia across 2 working weeks. Some fun to be had over the weekend, but some work to do first. I went down to Heathrow Terminal 4 using the worst and poorest value "Express" train service anywhere in the world, the good old Heathrow Express. 15 minutes to Terminal 1, followed by a further 12 minutes wait for a connecting train to Terminal 4, then 4 minutes on said train. Add that to the 10 minute wait to get out of Paddington on a train in the first place, and you get a grand total of 41 minutes to get to the airport. For £15 each way, its a rip off, and I would have been better off getting the Tube from Green Park for £4. You live and learn - thank God BA are moving out of T4 in a couple of weeks.

I was on a bit of a later flight to Philly than I usually get - and really reaped the benefits. The plane was pretty empty, so I had a few seats to myself, and really good service from an underworked cabin crew. The flight was boring as ever, but on arriving in Philly, the taxi to the stand was all of 2 minutes, and I was through immigration and in a cab no more than 15 minutes after the plane's wheels hit the runway. Truly incredible - especially the speed through immigration. I'm not sure if this is becoming the norm for US immigration, but I hope so! It was pretty hot and sweaty outside, even at 8pm - just a different world to the rainy weather in London the same day.

The following day after work, I had the misfortune to see some of the Republican party convention on TV, where VP nominee Sarah Palin was making her acceptance speech. Looking at the Republicans in the audience, with cowboy hats on, yee-hah-ing at everything they liked the sound of (which was mostly just personal attacks on Barack Obama), I was quite scared. Most of the Americans I know and work with are intelligent, educated, professional and urban-dwelling people - so they are mostly Democrats. This was completely the other side of the country - the rednecks and other assorted idiots that may well vote for another 4 years of George Bush lite. Watching this on TV, it was an utterly terrifying prospect.

The day after Sarah Palin's speech, came John McCain's acceptance speech - which was due to start at 10pm, but which was delayed slightly, so that the end of the opening NFL game of the season didn't steal all his viewers. Which I thought gave an interesting picture of the priorities of the American people. I suspect it would be even worse in the UK - at least the NFL is a reasonably interesting sporting event - in the UK, it would probably be Big Brother taking precedence.

So, watching all this political stuff on TV, and seeing the pound sliding against the dollar by the day, meant that there was only one thing to do - go shopping. On my final day in the office, I snuck out at lunchtime for a raid on Old Navy. Stocking up on $25 pairs of jeans is at least one advantage of visiting the US regularly - but if those Republicans do win the election in November, I will be extremely glad I don't have to live here all the time.