Sunday, 26 May 2019
Anchorage, Alaska, USA
Absolutely chucking it down. All day. Quick trip on the cable car up to the top of the mountain that I can see from my bedroom window. The views would be magnificent were it not for the rain. Can just about make out the fjord down below through the low cloud. Up at 2,300ft, there’s still plenty of snow. But there’s nothing to see as all the trails are closed. Quick lunch and then back down the mountain.
Only a short drive to Anchorage following the fjord coast. Can hardly see across to the other side, such is the dreadful weather. Drop hire car off at the airport and then taxi into downtown. Taxi driver is Somalian. Why on earth would a Somalian want to come and live in Alaska. From somewhere nice and hot and sunny to somewhere that’s not?
Arrive Anchorage mid afternoon and check in to The Voyager Inn (https://thevoyagerinn.com/). Room is cold but that’s because the room thermostat is set to 50F. Increased to 80F to warm it up on this very cold day. But. The room doesn’t warm up. Vent grille is still churning out cold air. Ring reception and ask how to get warm air. He says, “Well, because it’s summer now, it’s only cooling. You won’t get heat now.” So then I ask how to stop the vent fan. At least that will stop cold air being dispersed. The vent fan controller only has three options. High. Medium. Low. He says, “It’s not immediately obvious but you need to put the switch between medium and low.” No. It’s not ‘immediately obvious’. It’s not obvious at all.
Another half hour passes and the room is getting colder. Ask for an electric heater. Am given something that resembles a ray gun that could have been a prop in the Flash Gordon TV series.
Have to be up at 0630hrs in the morning but still awake at 0200hrs. It’s then that I feel the earth move. Quite literally. My body is gently rocking in bed.
It’s a faint earthquake.
Oooh.
