One of the pleasures of being
Waiting in a remote area of the airport for his plane to park, I
learned that rather than go directly to a hotel in
I was welcome to join the "parade," albeit at the end of the line, but I must stay with it until it reached its destination. Then I could go home.
When the plane arrived, I went onboard to extend to the Prime
Minster the Governor's welcome to
The drive to
Of course, we arrived at the Shrine in record time. It was a modest building in a low-income neighborhood. My assignment completed, I was now free to leave; but I couldn't. I was caught up in a jam of parked limousines.
I asked a Berkeley police officer, one of many assigned to support the Secret Service and the Highway Patrol, how I could get my car our of this mess.
His reaction, "How are you going to get out of here? My question is, how in hell did you get in?"
A Secret Serviceman explained the situation. As it turned out, my exit was not all that difficult. By moving five cars, there was room for me to drive up onto the sidewalk. With police as foot escorts, I drove a city block on the sidewalk until I reached a normal street.
I wasn't even late for dinner.