Memorial Day in Washington

WASHINGTON—It has been a wonderful weekend in Washington, D.C., and I wish I could stay longer. But, alas, I'm in the British Airways lounge at Dulles airport, waiting for my flight to London. I haven't logged on since Saturday morning, which feels weird.

My flight out of Dallas was delayed indefinitely when last I posted. It ended up taking off at 12.15pm, almost four hours late. I was able to get on another flight, one that left at 9.30am and arrived at National only 45 minutes after I was originally supposed to get there. Problem is, I had already checked a bag. Yeah, I knew it would bite me in the ass at some stage; I just always figured it would be at Heathrow. (We're not to Heathrow yet, so there's still time.)

Although the woman in the Admirals Club pulled my bag, apparently it didn't happen. So it arrived much later that night, at my friend's house, while we were out at the Quarry House Tavern. Luckily, one of his housemates was home and could sign for it.

Anyway, the Quarry House was just like I remembered it, rockabilly band and all. I had the burger and the tater tots. Heaven. I even got to play my patented Ed Hoover Quarry House Jukebox Mix, which is an eclectic mishmash of the Smiths, the Clash, Bowie, Queen, Lou Reed, Stevie Wonder, Johnny Cash, etc. (Drew, you'll be happy to know I started it off with "How Soon Is Now".)

It was good to see the old crew, too. Thanks to Lakshmy, Mike, Steph, Dave, Chris, Rachel, Amy and crew for making it out. I had a great time.

Weather was perfect, too. We went to the Nationals game yesterday, at their new stadium. It's awesome. A really beautiful stadium, great sight lines and good food. I had a Ben's Chili Bowl half-smoke hot dog, with chili. That's with one L, people. And the Nationals won, beating the Brewers 7-6 on a wild pitch. Brilliant. It was the perfect day for being out at an afternoon ballgame. But it turned into a long night of drinking, so I'm feeling it now.

I realised this weekend how much I miss Washington. It really is a great town, and I loved living here. I have no doubt that I'll be back here before too long. I've got no plans to leave Australia yet, but I do think D.C. might call me back at some stage. Maybe after Obama wins.

I'll write more later. For now, I'm going to surf the web a bit before my flight. (Let it be known that the British Airways lounge knows how to do it. Much better than American: free food and drinks, including wine, beer and spirits, and free wifi. Legit free wifi.)