Snowed up in DFW
Its 5AM, I’m hauled up in the Econo Lodge a few miles outside Dallas Forth Worth – a grim motel, the spitting image of where Earl Hickey lives in My Name Is Earl. It’s rundown prefab with hallways open to the elements, covered in faded green astroturf. A large pile of ice cubes is on the floor, they’re showing no signs of melting – it’s snowing outside.
I touched down at DFG yesterday, to snow showers, a little after two in the afternoon. I was due to catch a connection to Austin, Texas, I’m spending the week at SXSW, however my flight was cancelled. Three hours later I reached the front of a sprawling queue of frustrated passengers in front of American Airlines ticket disks. I spoke with Gina, the A.A. rep, who told me all further flights out were cancelled: “When it snows, people here don’t know what to do, they panic. They’re not used to it. I’m from Fiji, when it snows there life carries on.” She said there was a flight out in two hours at another airport I heard as ‘Love Film’; I work for LOVEFiLM.COM! ‘Love Field’ airport, in this weather, was probably 90 minutes away, if I took a taxi straight away but there was no guarantee I’d make the flight or that it wouldn’t be cancelled. I could drive; Austin was 180 miles away, maybe three or four hours in ideal conditions. However conditions were not ideal, I was zonked and I didn’t fancy my chances. I opted to stay and try my luck the next day.
Three hours later I found myself at the Econo Lodge, after a spending an hour ringing around twenty other hotels that were full or engaged and two hours waiting for the Econo Lodge, shuttle bus. My head hit the pillow at eight thirty.
Body clock out of kilter, I’m up at an ungodly hour and find myself blogging.
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