This is the first of several blogs following my progress in writing the play Phantom of the Skies and also my time/adventures in the US of A.

I began my journey on the 29th of September catching a train from Camaerthen in Wales, changing at Cardiff before reaching Paddington Station, London. Journey took around 7hours but it seemed to all go very quick as I spent the whole journey talking with a young Doctor from London who works in Camaerthen Hospital, on her way home for her nieces birthday party. We talked about a wide range of subjects but mainly about the difference in life-styles between those who live in the city and the rural communities - As we both had a similar experience of leaving a busy city to be in a very rural and quiet area of wales, where the pace of life is that much slower. I think the most intersting thiong really is that we talked at all as if we had been in our respective cities of London and Manchester we would probably never have uttered a word to each other.

I arrived at my hotel at around 10pm and went straight to bed as my plane was due to leave at 10 which meant being there at 7 because of all the security measures. After a really pleasant flight which due to sleep did not seem like 11hrs at all I arrived in Los Angeles. Where I had a three hour wait for my plane to Reno - flights to Reno are known for their turbulence because of the surrounding mountain ranges. And it did not disappoint. Although I have to say the experience was rather amusing as it was so bumpy the flight attendents didn't have the time to collect the rubish in an orderly fashion instead opting for charging down the plane with large bin liners shouting just throw it in....

Sat next to me was a guy who couldn't have been more than 18/19 who was about to be shipped out to the Navy. When we were talking he was asking me all kinds of naive questions about Britain and I thought Jesus this guy has almost never left his own state other than to visit family and now he's going to be sent all round the world to see unspeakable horrors. This I thought very strange.

Once in Reno I met my sister at the airport and after not being able to collect my luggage because it was still in Los Angeles having perhaps decided to make a go of it in Hollywood.

On the journey across the atlantic I began to formulate the beginings of my play. It will be an examination of two different kinds of relationships put to the test by a paranormal event and the reaction within a small community to it....
The next stage will be to outline the story, scene by scene so I know where its going...

Till the next time,
Joe