I've brought Washington DC to its knees. Forget all this Taxation Without Representation business, forget political scandal - I've sent the city into a spin from which I worry it'll never recover. And all in search for that most humble of bathroom accoutrements: the flannel. Or face cloth, if you will.
With the freebies of the hotel no longer at our disposal, I am in need of a flannel, because I figured that that's exactly the sort of thing that I needn't bring from home, but can rather pick up over here. So after dropping Max off at work, I set off on my merry way for what I thought would be a quick nip to the CVS pharmacy next door to the Bureau, to pick up a flannel and head back to the flat for a shower and the day ahead. No NyQuil taken for some time, so the day was looking rosy and full of possibilities.
Ok, so no face cloths at CVS. But Filene's Basement (America's answer to TK Maxx) will of course sell them. It turned out not to matter that the CVS lady had given me incorrect directions as, even taking an extremely long way round, I still got to the store before it opened. A little baffled as to why the assistant was taking me into the heart of womenswear, I started to wonder if this might not be the most straightforward quest after all. Sure enough, once the assistant established that I was asking for a face cloth, rather than clothes by a designer called Face Cloth, I was told that Filene had no flannels in her basement.
Confident that there were still many places to try, I trotted off on my merry way. Only to be vanquished at every single turn, leaving a trail of bemused shop assistants in my wake. I even tried two more, larger branches of CVS. Sure, I could get fancy shower scrunchy mop things, a whole range of hair dyes, baby stuff, even ink for my colour printer. But a face cloth? Forget about it!
I sought solace in the only place I knew could cheer me up: the stationery section of Borders. When the lady ringing up my many purchases saw what it all came to, she nearly fainted and gave me a huge discount. Who needs flannels, when you have Kate Spade notelets at a fraction of the cost?! Hurrah. She was also the first person to say that I had a cute accent, which was nice. And, thanks to my studious and extensive TV watching, I was even able to join in a conversation with her and her colleagues about a particular advert for spot cream. I'm going native!
After sorting out various tedious things back in the UK, like gas bills and the pesky building work we're still having to have done to our flat, I trotted off to meet Max from work and we impetuously set off to a whole new part of town to see 'Leatherheads' at the cinema. This involved going on the metro for the first time, which was very exciting. I can't wait to take lots of photos of the stations, cos they're very cool - a bit like if Westminster tube station had been built from concrete in the 60s. The trains themselves are the size and shape of that monorail shuttle you get at airports, but with orange squashy seats in rows of two, a little like a bus, and with armrests and everything.
We popped up in a much more busy part of town, giving credence to Maxy's long-running theory that the quietness of the area we've been hanging out in isn't representative of the rest of the city. We came up right opposite the Spy Museum (so exciting!) and a Smithsonian too, I think. And there were finally shop fronts and normal-looking restaurants, not to mention Avalon itself - a huge Urban Outfitters. Woo!
The cinema was a multiplex inside a huge complex of restaurants and we really enjoyed 'Leatherheads'. I was a li
ttle worried about the stereotype of American cinema audiences shouting at the screen throughout the movie, but there were about four other people in the screen, so I needn't have worried. The film has a real 'His Girl Friday' feel about it (albeit a very self-conscious one), with George Clooney being all charming and Renee Zellweger very waspish and exchanging quick-fire quips with George's character. The Randy Newman score is fantastic and the whole thing is lots of fun. I particularly liked and believed the chemistry between George and Renee, which I attribute in no small part to this photo and longstanding reports of them being close in real life. Only when we emerged from the cinema complex did we appreciate that we were slap-bang in the middle of Chinatown (the metro stop called Gallery Pl - Chinatown could've given us a clue), complete with the most gigantic Chinese archway I've ever seen. I had a hankering for hot dogs (well, when in Chinatown...) and, put off by what might happen to us if we ate there, we bypassed a branch of 'Pot Belly' and nipped next door for a pair of milkshakes and 'dogzillas', which bore an uncanny resemblance to Polish kielbasa I've had on the Goldhawk Road. Still, they were extremely tasty and it was nice to feel slightly more in the thick of things in that part of town, with a bit more bustle.
We had high hopes for staying awake for Leno when we got home, especially as Dennis Quaid and Russell Brand were his guests, but were both fast asleep by the time it started. We'll get you next time, you pesky late-night chatshow hosts!
2 comments:
hey man, post more photos, they're really cool to see
pop x
We demand more West Wing references! Admittedly, you're not having seen it may be a minor issue - however with only 154 45min episodes to watch you could be up to speed in a mere 115hrs or about two weeks of 9-5s if you treat it like a job (with an hour off each day for lunch).....
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