July 6th: Today has been my last full day here in DC, before the big travel day, further down south tomorrow; and we spent our time touring the memorials to just about every American in history... Not that I dislike doing that, or mean to disrespect the dead; just once you've spent 5 hours already in a state of semi-depressive sombreness, another few hours makes it seem almost normal...
STILL; our morning was taken up by a tour of all the DC monuments by a guy who I believe was called Tim Stewart... Now, I have to say that he genuinely was just about the best tourguide I've ever had... Seriously an awesome guy - a retired teacher, who really seems to enjoy his new job of touring the city, and also really knows what he's talking about... So he took us about all the different DC memorials, from WWII, to Vietnam, to Lincoln, to Korea; at all of which he was really interactive with the group - he even gave me a (albeit party-sized) packet of m&ms... And I approve of any man who needlessly gives me free chocolate... That being said; it's no large hole in his wallet, considering he got tipped just short of $500 for 4 hours work (you're not gonna be earning THAT sort of money from working the grills in McDonalds...)... He was VERY good though...
So we finished the tour, and the next thing my dad wanted to do was a tour of this huge US military graveyard, just across the river, in outer Virginia... Now, I'm wearing these shorts which have HUGE pockets - perfect for carrying and pickpocketing my valuables... (I've got a few pairs of shorts and jeans like this, with the huge pockets, so just for the record; if my hand's ever in one or even both of the pockets, I'm merely protecting my phone/iPod/camera etc. as apposed to not so secretly masterbating in public...) So anyway, to get across this river, instead of taking the 35minute walk, we decided to hire a cab (we're not lazy; just filthy rich...); so we sat down, drove a couple of minutes, got out, paid the driver, and started walking up to this graveyard. Now of course it's a bit impractical to have your hand in your pocket whilst sitting in the back of a cab, on the side which the pocket is; so I didn't... It's only once we got to the gate of the cemetery when I decided it might be a good idea to check my pocket... Phone, iPod, wallet... Ahh... (at this point, I say again; I'm NOT rubbing one off when my hand's in my pocket... That was like a disappointed sigh, rather than a joyous groan... And no; not in the slightest bit disappointed because of my poor performance... Because I didn't even start... (Hmm... This hole's getting bigger and bigger, yet I keep digging...) Y'know what? Just shut up... Yeah... That'll teach you...) ...No camera... Now obviously the taxi had left a good 3 or 4 minutes before this point, and he's hardly gonna check his back seat, see a camera, and go out of his way to start a mad headhunt throughout the District of Columbia & Virginia, just to return this old scratched up block of plastic to some British kid who sat in his car once... There's more chance of Al-Qaeda calling off the bombing stuff, and going into the agricultural business, with their new company; Osama's Farmers... It's not that it's an expensive camera (like I said, it's old, scratched up, and only like 5MP), but it's just the combination of my holiday memories being lost, plus knowing that somewhere out there, somebody's holding my stuff, and there's not a damned thing I can do about it... (by the way mysterious, unknown finder of my camera - do us all a favour and delete photo 17 for me without reporting it to the federal agencies... Oh and 19... And 24... And 27... And all of them between 45-63... Hell; just delete anything with an animal, car exhaust, or oddly shaped tree trunk in it... Thanks - much appreciated...) So for the rest of the day (and holiday for that matter), I'm having to cope with the loss of my camera... Now I'm not saying that it's nearly as significant as the loss of JFK, but it certainly made his eternal flame seem a lot tamer than it otherwise would've been...
R.I.P. Kempokam - '05-'11
Thanks,
Kempo.
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