Where Has the Time Gone?

I have safely arrived in UK. The trip here was a bit of an ordeal: the flight from Kabul to Dubai was delayed/cancelled/changed because President Karzai was flying that day as well. Those of us that were already in the airport were removed, marched about one quarter mile away into a village, placed into a penned-in area with high fences, and guarded (read: soldiers stood there with their guns pointed at us) until the president had flown away. Interesting way to garner votes... After I finally made it into the airport, Scott called and told me there had been yet another attack on a military convoy with casualties. Dubai to London was not without excitement either. Seems someone had purchased a ticket and checked in, but 'forgot' to board. The crew had to unload all of the luggage to locate the missing person's bags and have them removed. We were a bit late arriving at Heathrow, but luckily the airport arranged to have a few other planeloads of tired (and smelly!) travellers arrive at the same time. Two hours in the passport line alone. The Heathrow reputation is well-deserved.

All that said, I am having a fantastic time. I enjoyed my drive from the airport to Bedford last night. I am staying in an inn that has been in business for a bit longer than 500 years. I had walked by this establishment so many times when I lived here so long ago, but had never been inside. I have not been disappointed. My body being on Kabul time, I awoke a little before the sun. I showered and hit the road at first light. I wandered all around the county where I had lived and worked watching the day awaken. In a country that has such long history, it should be no surprise that many of the places look and feel and smell exactly the same. After my morning's drive, I went back to the inn, grabbed a quick bite of breakfast, and walked around downtown Bedford watching the shopkeepers greet the new day. I changed into my running gear and went for a wonderful run through the Queen's Woods near Chicksands. I had run in these woods hundreds of miles while I worked at Chicksands and it felt very much like a homecoming. Even though it had been nearly 20 years since I had been on the trails, I never once got lost or took a wrong turn. Memories of a different era washed over me like a wave. The last time I had been on those trails, the Berlin Wall still stood, the Soviet Union had not yet collapsed, and I was part of the 'tip of the spear' serving in Europe. Faces and names of old friends that I had not thought of for years came back to me as I ran. What a glorious morning.

After a lunch back in Bedford, I returned to Chicksands. One of the perks of my current job is that I have a number of identity cards issued by various agencies. One of them granted me access to the base. Chicksands has a long history in the military espionage/intelligence field and it continues today. After talking to the guard commander, I was granted unescorted (unheard of!) access to the base to continue my trip down memory lane. With the notable exception of the missing elephant cage, the base looks remarkably similar to how it looked when I worked there. Most of the base housing area has been taken over by the local government agency that administers low-income housing. I found my way around the winding network of roads like no time had passed. It was a wonderful day.

My last bit of excitement was getting a proper haircut at a shop in Bedford. The woman cutting my hair said that it looked like I had been in the sun and inquired if I had been away on holiday. I told her that I was indeed on holiday here in Bedford. She laughed and asked where I had received the sun on my noggin'? I told her that I was living in Afg. The room got a bit quiet and I wondered what sort of place I had wandered in to. The young woman said quietly that there were three haircut people (you can't really call them barbers any longer, can you?) in the shop with boyfriends/husbands serving in Afg or Iraq. It was moving to see the other side of war; the loved ones at home paying a different, but not insignificant, price. She wouldn't hear of taking my money no matter how hard I tried to explain that I was civilian and not worthy of her gracious offer. I left her, and her colleagues, a nice tip and encouraged them to have a nice time tonight (it's Friday night here now) on me as they had deserved it.

All this and it's only Day 1.