The Nissan is dead, long live the Subaru
19:55 - Washington DC - Michael & Zihao
So, now for the rest of the story to DC. On Tuesday, after our very sunny picnic, we had driven to Billy's house in Monkton, which was half an hour outside Baltimore. Billy is a friend of Alec's from Oxford's who had rowed in Isis with him while studying for his Masters this year. Billy's house was fantastic and the swimming pool was a welcome relief, making the soaring American temperatures (nearly 40 degrees) rather more bearable. Alec, Benji and Zihao played Wiffleball (effectively backyard baseball) with Billy while Michael chilled out in the pool. In the evening, Billy's mum provided us with a truly fantastic dinner of steak (with an amazing steak sauce) and crabcakes - the sheer amount of food challenged all of us, even Alec!
On Wednesday morning, we drove with Billy into Baltimore to enjoy lunch in the inner harbour. Michael was very excited to experience first hand this high-crime city featured in the television series The Wire. We were in for a somewhat more comprehensive Baltimore experience than we had bargained for. On returning to the car, a spread of shattered safety glass greeted us where the rear right window had once been. Benji's bag - containing passport, documents and Bose headphones - was missing. In a bizarre twist of fate, probably attributable to the narcotics-fuelled state of the assailant, Michael's nearby iPad, laptop and luggage were untouched. Benji, with typical street wisdom, immediately took to the local alleys to look for clues. Amazingly, not 200 metres away, he found his bag, complete with passport and papers, although alas his headphones were still missing. Nonetheless, a lucky escape.
Our experience with Baltimore police was thoroughly entertaining. After Alec's phonecall, an incredibly friendly officer turned up at a distinctly unrushed pace. After ascertaining that we had full rental insurance, the officer congratulated us profusely (he said he would hug us if only he were Russian), and decided the whole affair was hilariously entertaining. As it turned out, he'd worked for a rental company previously, and knew that the full rental insurance was fairly comprehensive. We then had 20 minutes of banter with him, where he told Michael all about The Wire - apparently it's the best American copy show ever (and the only realistic one). The crew had had hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment nicked from their trailers in the first ever week of filming, so we felt in good company.
By 4pm, we were on the road towards Dulles Airport to pick up Mole. Michael and Benji's journey in the Nissan was now rather louder, and rather less effectively air conditioned than before, but turning the music right up made the experience feel even more like a USA roadtrip than any journey yet. True to the policeman's word, the airport Hertz replaced the car no questions asked. Indeed, the Hertz lady was equally congratulatory on our having chosen the full insurance. At $20/car/day more the basic cover, we had deliberated about it significantly. As it turns out, taking it was definitely a good choice! Even better, the our beloved but rather basic Nissan was replaced with a Subaru Outback, a vastly superior car to the Nissan and very good looking in white. The car will need to be stickered up with some of our reserve stickers in the next few days.
With Mole picked up, we made haste in our new convoy towards Washington DC, where we were to stay with Alec's friend Tripp (incidentally a dedicated Baltimorean who was mortified to hear of our experiences in his hometown!).
