Written 28th October 2011

Hello!!

I'm currently sat in Washington DC hospital with Toby and Dave and have just been attacked by Doctor Damley who has made another incision in my arm to clean it out… but more about that later.

I left Mum and Dad in Toronto after a great week and got the 12 hour bus to DC, throughout which my arm was beginning to hurt. I arrived at about 8:45pm and after a brief walk i checked in at my final hostel! When I got to my room Mr Toby Roper was nowhere to be seen, he was having a shower. I burst into the bathroom shouting his name and we embraced after a shake of the hand, him fully naked…only joking! He was half naked! After a bit of a catch up we went for a walk to get some fresh air before hitting the sack as we were both knackered! It turns out Toby had beaten me to the hostel by 10mins!

The day after, we enjoyed our free breakfast before heading out for an easy day checking out DC and formulating a plan for the rest of the week. We visited the White House, National Archive and made my first trip to the hospital. After a prodding and a poke, I was asked to pay $450 upfront which I laughed at. I don't even have a credit limit with that amount on it! After giving over my details, we left via the pharmacy, another $38, and visited the Lincoln Memorial. There was a crazy ranger doing a 'Ranger talk' in a typical American style, OTT! As everyone will know, i do like my jumping pictures and Toby was itching to take off! We tried our best to take one throughout the day, but failed miserably and needed the arrival of Mr David Kelly before we cracked it! Toby and I were watching TV when our room mate said a crazy guy had appeared claiming to be our friend. We went back up to the room and stood on his own in the corner was David Kelly! Another embrace was had, fully clothed this time, and off we went to watch some baseball on TV and annoy all the Americans by constantly asking what was going on.

UPDATE…

This is David Kelly writing this, the best English scribe in George Washington Hospital, whilst being dictated to by Tom and Toby. We are trying to write it as if Tom's writing but it is all very confusing!

By the way, this is by far the best blog mention Rach, so I win!

Tom would like it written down that he has just given his credit card to Toby so that he can get his prescription!!

And Toby is now tidying up!

So the first day as a 3 some was a glorious sunny day, dressed in shorts and T-shirts we set off towards to US Capitol and when we arrived attempted our first team jumping photo. As usual, Dave didn't really know what he was doing so after a few failed attempts the end result was a picture that looks like Toby is doing a 'number 2', i'm doing a rap, and Dave is driving a car, we had got the perfect one. Plus we avoided being shot for being stupid, bonus! So after this we went on a tour of the Capitol with a crazy tour guide before sitting in on the House of Representatives for a few mins… Obama is not a popular man! After that we went to Union station for some lunch and spotted 3 bikes which we fancied hiring after something to eat.... however when we returned fully fed they had gone! We found some more and set off on our quest to the mall. We hopped off the side walk with Dave leading confidently, and consequently easily negotiated a green light, but then ploughed straight through a red light with one local driver shouting something with "Foreigners" and "Lights" in the phrase! By the time we made it to the mall we were in hysterics having survived the ride by the skin of our teeth! We rode round to the front of the Capitol on our beautiful shiny red bikes and enjoyed a view of the mall and waving at some important people on a balcony! Riding down the mall, negotiating steps and pedestrians along the way, was a great laugh. We pulled over occasionally to take some alternative art style pictures involving the Washington monument and Dave, before racing to find a bike docking station before the one hour deadline. We made it with a couple of minutes to spare. On the way though, we also called in to Barrack and Michelle's to say Hi, but they rudely didn't answer so it was back on the bikes to hunt down a docking station.

UPDATE from Dave and Toby….

Tom in still complaining about his arms as he has an itch on his head and cant bend his right, as that is the swollen one, and he has a drip in the other so be cant bend that either!!! It's very amusing for me and Toby!!

After depositing the bikes we scouted out a tour bus and hopped on to Arlington National Cemetery. We visited the graves of Kennedy and family, Members of the space shuttle Challenger, Unknown Soldiers and took in the sobering large amount of graves, spreading in every direction. We then walked miles to the other side of the cemetery, jumped a wall and visited the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial whilst keeping a close eye on the time! We then hot footed it to the Pentagon City Mall for the last bus back to central DC… It was freezing, and even more so when the driver put his foot down and rally drove back into the centre!

Total distance travelled that day - 20.18 miles!!!

We had a rest, got changed and went down to reception to ask about local restaurants. The lady on reception had a great reaction to my t-shirt and earring, coming out with a number of sayings, some of which were "DAYMMMMMW" and "oooOOOOHHH! You just make me wanna go WOW!!!" (Please ask Dave for a demonstration of this as he has mastered it!) We then went to Ruby Tuesday for some food, which was good, then went back and crashed into bed!

Next day. Taking antibiotics from the hospital but arm still swelling.

Anyway, we hopped back on the bus after the free breakfast and went to the Post Office Tower. We got up to the top for free and enjoyed a panoramic view of the city. One of the signs clearly stated, "Please don't touch the wires" I enjoyed taking pictures of Dave clearly ignoring this to get the best picture he could!

UPDATE…

Tom has just ordered a full spread buffet for tea, but cannot eat it as he can't bend his arm! All the more for me and Toby!

After coming out of the Post Office Tower, we walked towards the bus to catch the red line to the Jefferson Memorial and came across all the protestors in the City walking down the middle of the road causing chaos, shouting "OFF THE SIDE WALK, INTO THE STREET" so I did my part, and put on foot on the road! We then argued over where the bus stop was, which resulted in a victory for me, and a loss for Mr Roper, with Mr Kelly refereeing. The Red line bus dropped us off at the Jefferson Memorial, where we took advantage of the great backdrop which was the tidal basin and the White house, and the Washington Monument and took the most successful jumping picture yet. We then walked round the lake, via a stop to climb a tree for a posing photo and got the Roosevelt memorial. One of the statues show a group of 5 men, all facing the same direction in a line, so the tripod came and we dutifully slotted into place and the result was a cracking picture! It was then the newly opened the Martin Luther King Memorial, Korean War and Lincon. It then started to chuck it down so we headed back to the hostel and changed into wet weather gear. Toby could now also warm up as Toby as after warning us against shorts, and advising we take a jacked instead, he respectfully wore jeans, but failed to take a jacket and therefore froze. We had lunch back at the hostel, a DIY subway, and then jumped back on the bus to Georgetown. The first stop was the Cathedral, ranked number 7 on trip advisor for things to see. It is apparently one of Washington's Must see things. We enjoyed looking at the cathedral; however the 6 foot high perimeter fence prevented us seeing much more. Upon realising this, the bus had long since gone and we had another 20 min wait for the next bus!

Next stop was the middle of George town where we visited a rubbish Abercrombie and Fitch, walked down Main Street and visited Washington Harbour. Queue next jumping photo under a fountain. It was now dark, but we visited the WWII memorial and Vietnam memorial. Which were made 10 times more stunning with all the lights on. I took a lot of pic's, whilst Dave spent the time complaining that he hadn't brought his SLR with him! We then took pic's of Lincon, Washington Monument and the Capitol night, and waited for a LONG time to hopefully catch the last bus, lets just say we didn't, and it was a long walk home!

Having taken antibiotics all day, and a meal at a Chinese, Toby sent me packing back to the hospital as my arm was still swelling up. I waited 4 hours to be seen before they decided to cut the wound, drain it and give me more Antibiotics on a drip. It was one of the most painful things before just recently experiencing it again, an hour ago. At 3am, I was bandaged up, discharged and headed back to the hostel to go to bed.

The morning after, we had a slow start with a visit ot the pharmacy and enjoying a Starbucks whilst waiting for the drugs. Making the most of our bus pass, we hopped back on again and went round to the American Indian Museum. My arm was looking slightly better than the night before. We went round the museum fairly swiftly before hitting the café for an Indian style lunch, I enjoyed chilli chips and cheese! Toby had Buffalo and Dave had Tacos. We then went next door into the Air and Space Museum and enjoyed the start of a guided tour, learning about the Wright Brothers, before breaking away to see the planetarium and a film at the Imax. A total of $15, not $9 as advertised!!!!!! We then strolled across to the Mall and went to the White House Gift Shop and had our photos taken in a mock Oval Office. We all had a serious one, and then Dave crawled under the desk, I sat on top of it, and Toby commanded the country from the chair.

We then walked to the shop to get some tea, and then back to the hostel to inspect the arm…..suffice to say, that was the end of Washington!! After an inspection, we all decided the arm had got worse again and I returned once more, only this time, 23 hours and 54 mins later, I'm still here, and will be here till I fly home on Sunday.

I was moved through ER fairly rapidly and then after initial examination, was told I was staying the night, a drip was placed in arm, eventually, after Sarah failed twice, resulting in multiple stab wounds. I then sat in a corridor for 6 hours before going to room 414, bed B, getting a few hours sleep. Since then I have had a number of Antibiotics pumped into me, enjoyed the luxury of a moving bed, TV, En-suite room service, a number of swabs, squeezes and cuts to my elbow.

UPDATE… from Dave and Toby

While Tom was lay up in hospital, me and Toby had a evening of fun with a Canadian girl who was on her last night, not as dodgy as it sounds, we were playing board games! We came across to the hospital in the morning to visit Mr Disaster with our new Canadian acquaintance as she had heard the story of Tom, but hadn't met him. We then went shopping for a top up of Abercrombie and Fitch, Toby bought his first T-Shirt, then we have been stuck in this flippin place watch Tom pig out on food. When we came back this afternoon, the surgeons arrived arms to the hilt with knives syringes gauzes….and a nappy. This was not to put on tom, just to put under his arm while they sliced him up!

That I must say was something to see! They basically pinned him down, having persuaded him it needed no numbing, and preceded to butcher his elbow (ok maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but there groaning and quite a bit of pain for Tom!) Unfortunately they didn't manage to remove his sense of humour as half way through his surgery, he managed to scream out "I hate Robert Thresh!" he was obviously joking, but as normal, Thresh ended up as the but of the joke!

We have just all enjoyed a mini buffet courtesy of AXA travel insurance we will keep you posted. Things are ok currently, Headache is gone, Swelling is reducing and bandaging is to a minimum.

So from the 3 Musketeers, we shall see you soon, maybe not so soon for me if they don't let me go on Sunday, although current out look is I will be ok! Next antibiotics in 3 hours 40 mins…

See you soon

Tom Toby and Dave x

PS. Thanks for all the messages from home! x