As it turned out, the roads to the airport had been ploughed and cleared perfectly, so at 12 noon (6pm UK) Friday, we were at the airport. Our flight was supposed to leave at 6:50pm.

By 4pm we were told our flight would be delayed until 8:15pm due to delays in Ireland.

We boarded and left Chicago (who had had bad weather, but had no delays of its own doing) at 8:15pm (2:15am UK).

After 6-7 hours of our seven and a half hour flight we were told by the Captain that Dublin was closed and we were being re-routed. Initially he said he was trying to get somewhere else in Ireland but then managed to get us into Glasgow (which was fine for us, we could take a train south). Unfortunately, after flying towards Glasgow for a little while we were diverted from Glasgow and landed at Prestwick (near Glasgow, Scotland) on a runway covered in snow. We sat on that runway, in the plane, for two hours!

Eventually the Captain said that they were being re-fuelled and were going to try making it to Dublin. He said that Dublin was currently closed, but we’d either try to land there, or land in Shannon (near Dublin) as that had opened. We took off from a snowy Prestwick and managed to land in Dublin (it had opened while we were in the air).

When we got to Dublin we realized just what a mess the UK and Ireland were in. We were about 5 hours late for our flight to Manchester, England and it had been canceled – as had every other flight to Manchester.

After getting through Immigration (which granted us access to both Ireland and the UK), we lined up in a queue which was 400ft long in the baggage area for about 20mins before we were told this was not going to be the right line. We went up to departures and found the right desk for Aer Lingus, talked to someone who got us a flight to London, UK at 6:30pm UK (12:30pm Chicago time on Saturday).

The line for that desk was 300ft long also. They were managing the line with staff to stop queue jumping and I have to say I’m really impressed with how Aer Lingus were dealing with things. A major thing which was done for us is that when we checked-in for our flight to London the agent actually had to leave and go back through customs so he could manually find and tag our bags (which had originally been checked-in through to a closed Manchester Airport).

While we were waiting for our plane in Dublin, I booked a rental car in London (we originally had one booked in Manchester). Our flight was supposed to leave at 6:30pm, but because of a late arriving plane we eventually left at 8:15pm… While getting on the plane we heard a Stewardess from another airline saying that they were not sending any more flights after ours to London! We got on the plane and after they de-iced the wings we were sat warming the engines and the heavens opened… The snow started falling very much like a blizzard.

For the first time I saw a pilot do things to prepare for something going wrong. He was obviously totally blind as when I looked out of the window I could hardly see anything. The runway looked to have quite a thick layer of snow and I saw the pilot maneuver the plane so he was going to be able to use every inch of available runway. He also held the brake as he wound the engine up near full power (normally it seems like they’ll wind the engine up to full power while rolling along) before he released them. It felt like the pilot was struggling with the rudder quite a bit in the strong wind… Certainly wasn’t nice conditions out there, but we made it.

We landed at London, England at about 10pm UK (4pm Chicago) and made our way to the car rental. We got a great deal (better than we did from Manchester) and arranged things so we can drop the car at Manchester when we left the country. We left London at about 11pm and arrived at my parents at about 2am UK (8pm Chicago).

So 32 hours of travel in these conditions? That’s pretty good. The most embarrassing thing though is that Chicago weather was worse than England or Ireland. We were delayed leaving Chicago because of Ireland, not Chicago. How can the United States cope just fine with this type of thing? How am I able to drive up and down roads in the Chicago area just fine? How was I able to come to England and drive for 3 hours from the south all the way up-north without any issues whatsoever while the News stations are saying nobody can move? The British Media strikes once again, I think. Things are no way near as bad as the media are saying they are and I wonder if some people just wanted some time off work!

Honestly though, it is a little embarrassing. I know the UK and Ireland are not used to getting a proper Winter (well actually, we always used to get proper ones, just not recently), but considering what I see every day in an area like I live in the USA, I’m pretty ashamed at how a nation can fall apart.

I’m guessing there was an opening ceremony today, because I saw still pictures of it on Yahoo.com. I didn’t even think of watching it… Yet I think I’ve probably watched at least part of every single ceremony since I have been old enough to want to, so what’s different now?

Well, I live in the United States. I haven’t seen any of the build-up I am used to because they simply don’t provide the extensive coverage of Athletics that the BBC do back home. But, the thing is, as much as I’d love to say the problem is bad coverage, it isn’t. The other difference? China.

In Chicago today there was a march on the Chinese Consulate asking for the Chinese to end their occupation of Tibet. China has also refused an Athlete’s visa to travel and compete recently also, the reason being that he wants the Darfur regime (that the Chinese support), to end and has been a campaigner. Then, of course, there’s the little issue of human rights.

Come to think of it, what on earth were the Olympic Committee thinking?!

I just signed up for one of the new subscription packages the guys at Skype are offering. It allows me to call any landline in 34 countries for nothing more than the $9.95 per month from Skype…

But that is not all, as a part of that subscription you get access to something else, something very cool. “Skype To Go” is given for free with this subscription…

What is Skype To Go? Well, I live in the USA at a 312 area code. Skype To Go gives me a 312 area code number to call (from any phone, including my cell phone), I enter a pin and then I can call those 34 countries, for free! All I might have to pay for, is a 312 to 312 call – which is free for me.

So, what this means is that I can be anywhere in Chicago, including on a Cell phone, I can call the 312 number (local, or usually free call), enter pin number, select speed-dial #1 and my mum will get the call to her landline in Britain. I don’t even need Skype installed on my PC anymore! That contact capability is just $9.95 per month – Skype rocks!

Ever wanted to share files like you would between connected computers in your own home, but do it with computers connected on the internet miles apart?

Well… I have the answer – and to my surprise – it is absolutely free! (The version of Hamachi – the utility you will be using – that is needed, is free).

I have tried and tested this with Command & Conquer 3, playing via ‘Network’ in the game’s menu. I am in Chicago, USA and my brother is in England, UK. The performance was excellent!

1. Go to the LogMeIn Web site and download Hamachi.
2. Install with all the (currently, anyway) default options onto all the machines you want to connect. Select the Free/Basic version, but if you have the money you can buy the higher version to help support the development team.
3. Run Hamachi on the machine that will be most often hosting games. It is best to use the fastest/best machine as the host.
4a. You can do the tutorial where you join their test network if you want to.
4b. Create a network on the machine that will be hosting the game most often. Make a note of the name of the network and it’s password. Make sure the network is active and minimise Hamachi (You should get three green icons in the taskbar when the Network is active).
5. Run Hamachi on all the client machines (all the machines you installed Hamachi on that are not the host machine you just setup).
6. Click Create or Join Networks and enter the name and password of the Network you created on the host machine.
7. Everything ‘should’ be automatically setup by Windows. On Vista you will get an option of whether you want the Network to be Public or Private, select Private.
8. Run your game on the host, select LAN/Network game and create a game.
9. Run your game on the clients, select LAN/Network game and you should, I hope, be able to see the game listed – join it.

There, wasn’t that simple?

My motivation for this post comes from a number of recent articles I have seen on the Sky News Web site.

Firstly, there was an article that mentioned how Gordon Brown had been on ‘Idol Gives Back’ to say to the American people how the British Government were going to give Mosquito nets to Africa. Judging from both the article and the comments made by the British public, you’d think this was a bad thing! People were outraged at how Brown has been on a gameshow to say this, they were saying how he should be sorting out the UK before he goes and tells the world how he’s helping Africa. I’ll just say that ‘Idol Gives Back’ isn’t a gameshow, it’s a charity TV show, similar to ‘Children in Need’ in the UK. It is designed to help American and African children, with most of the funds raised going to Save the Children. Second, how DARE you be so shallow as to deny people the right to a mosquito net!? I am so ashamed to be British because of you.

Secondly, there was an article that mentioned how the Pope’s visit to the USA was overshadowing Gordon Brown’s and how nobody in the United States even knew he was here. Well, the funny thing here is, Sky (or ‘News Corporation’) owns FOX, FOX32 here in Chicago said in their news that Gordon Brown was here – so actually, any American who watches the news – news from the same people who bring us Sky News, no less – would actually know. Idiots. This is just Sky News trying to get the UK a new Prime Minister, don’t be brain-washed by it, for your own sake.

Thirdly, the British population has completely lost it’s sense of right and wrong. All you have to do to be thoroughly ashamed to be British is read the comments to this article about the extraordinarily-evil Robert Mugabe and his pseudo-dictatorship in Zimbabwe, and how Gordon Brown is threatening “decisive action” – apparently yet again Gordon Brown should be sorting out the UK first!

Again, I’ll say it: Britain – Do some parenting. Work yourselves out of the social slump you have fallen into where youths think it is OK to beat a man to death, where under-age drinking is rampant and where society resembles some of the more brutal scenes from Clockwork Orange. The Politicians did not put society where it is, they gave you all a free ride, they gave you all free healthcare and they gave you all one of the most supportive social security benefit systems in the world – and what did you do with it? You sat at home, didn’t work, had too many kids and brought them all up badly, turning them into the monsters they are today.

The great thing for Sheila and I is that we told each other everything – we haven’t had a single ‘uncomfortable’ conversation about each other’s past or any of that stuff. We’re very open on everything and this allows us to never really have any arguments (which always seem to spring from someone not telling someone else something they should have). We’re also very good at compromising and as far as I can remember, have never argued over a choice we had to make. I don’t actually think we’ve ever had a fight yet – sure, we have been upset with each other 4 or 5 times in the last year, but that’s it – and the good thing about those times was that we ended up just feeling bad about upsetting the other person!

One of the most difficult things for me personally has been U.S. Immigration forcing me to stay in the United States while I am being processed (if I leave, I won’t be able to be with my wife probably for a couple of years). This means I haven’t seen my family (in the UK) face-to-face for fifteen months and this has been the hardest thing I have had to cope with.

Just recently we decided that we will never have a Wedding. We had planned to be through Immigration last year and be on with our lives soon enough to have a Wedding ceremony on our 1st Anniversary (last year we got Married in a Courthouse with just Sheila’s parents present – the entire ceremony took just over 1 minute – we taped it). U.S. Immigration ruined our opportunity for this as we now feel that the moment has passed and it now just would not feel right to have a Wedding ceremony.

Any money we would have spent on a Wedding, we’re going to put into either a house, or travelling around a bit once I’m ‘released’. Of course this means we’re losing out in a lot of things that come with the whole ‘Wedding experience’. No money to start our life in the form of gifts, no honeymoon (we didn’t go anywhere in the last year – we’ve had absolutely no celebration of Marriage except going out for a meal with a few friends the day after our Marriage last year), no big gathering of family and friends, nothing. My family in the UK haven’t even met my wife or her family…

I would like to thank anyone who gave a gift for the Wedding Shower we hastily arranged prior to the Marriage last year – you should have all gotten thank you cards I hope!

Immigration is a necessary evil and I totally accept it however much it might mess up our early life together. The hardship and poor lifestyle we’ve had to live for the last year has really given us a lesson we’ll never forget. We appreciate the value of money more than probably anyone else I know.

While I am on the money issue, I have to say thank you to our Landlord. He has accepted over the last year what our position has been and has accepted late payment of rent quite a few times when we had to push-back payments for a month (usually every three months).

So, where are we now? We’re in the same position we were a full year ago. We’re poor as hell, we can’t do anything about it and we’re trapped until Immigration decide. They refused us once because of a very silly error (we mailed forms in the ‘wrong order’) and I’m pretty sure that they can refuse us again if they feel like it. With no end in sight, it’s very hard to stay motivated, but with a supportive wife I find that when I feel down – she’s there for me, when she feels down – I’m there for her. Hopefully with an Immigration Interview scheduled for April 22nd (something we didn’t even get offered last time), we’ll be able to see an end to the madness after that! Our attorney was very positive about it!

Also in the last year, Sheila lost her grandmother. I got to meet a huge amount of the extended family and was made to feel oh-so-welcome at the funeral. I am very pleased that I was able to be here for Sheila when she needed me and I’m so happy that her grandmother got to meet me and approved of me. The night she passed I had given her a hug and got a kiss on the cheek from her as we left Sheila’s parents, Sheila was sick and didn’t hug her… The next day when Sheila realized this, I told her to kiss my cheek as I hadn’t washed it yet… That is a really emotional memory.

Sheila’s sister also went in for surgery on her brain in the last couple of weeks and that was really scary, she seems to be doing OK for the moment, but the worrying continues…

Anyway, it’s been an interesting year full of trials of one sort or another. The great thing that I hold onto every day is that one thing that seems rock-solid is the quality of our relationship… Everything else doesn’t ruin that.

As Paramilitary Police have surrounded foreign Journalists in hotels and announcements have been made that any ‘illegal media’ will be dealt with harshly, perhaps we need to look at history to tell us what the evil Robert Mugabe may have planned for the people of Zimbabwe in the near future.

We’re very close, I feel, to an outbreak of genocide. Come on Britain. Come on World. You can see what is happening, can’t you?

I went to Starbucks this morning for a cup of coffee… (Bear in mind this is real coffee, something we don’t drink that much in England, it’s very strong compared to our stuff…) I carried on walking around, taking pictures of the city, sipping from my coffee cup. I walked to Lincoln Park Zoo and continued taking pictures, then it came to leaving…

I walked through Lincoln Park and – OH MY GOD – I literally HAD to take a taxi because either it was that, or I was going to crap my pants right there. The whole taxi ride home I was farting silently – but nervously – wondering with each one whether it would be the one that would deliver wetness…

As the taxi pulled up at the back of our house, I handed him way too much money (but payment that he was probably due, considering the way his taxi smelled by the time I departed it), got out, waddled upstairs, sat on the toilet and just exploded…

I really need to learn from this and avoid Coffee entirely like I used to. I need my mum to send me some Douwe Egberts Instant Coffee from the UK…

As someone who isn’t religious, I can recognize the requirement for religion in uncivilized society. There can be no greater deterrent than a possible punishment from a power you, as a human, could not comprehend or avoid. I also recognize that in this day and age there are not many truly religious individuals in the western world, and the western world suffers from a youth culture that seems to think nothing about bullying, drug taking and even killings. Recent news in the UK is littered with young adults or children that seem to have a total lack of control and while I consider that with lack of religion these people lack fear of God, they also lack fear of their parents in most cases.

I know right from wrong, and I’m not religious. So what went right with me? Good parenting perhaps?

In the United States, where religion still holds strong – much stronger than the UK – I don’t see the type of youth problems I see in the UK. You can drive through any town there and see it, here – I am yet to see the ‘Yobbish Youth’.

Of course, America has it’s own issues such as Gangs, but I believe the causes here are poverty, where badly educated individuals feel that joining a gang is the way to become richer than those who do not, where they think they’ll be able to get what they want out of life or have power over those who are around them.

So, what do you think? Fear of Prison doesn’t seem to deter bad behavior anymore – are we missing God, or are we missing good parenting?