Reluctant
HEROES"You guys are great"!
That was the greeting we received from the Customs and Immigration officials at
JFK Airport. Not what I was expecting on arrival in New York just before Xmas.
I very much doubt that a planeload of people from the Middle East would have had
the same response.
As we sailed through the airport I was relieved that the security I had been expecting seemed not to count for 'Brits'...as I had not declared my HIV status.
I could have been honest and applied for a waiver, but having it stamped into my passport for the rest of the world to see was not something I felt prepared to go through. America, land of the free - unless you have HIV or look in any way Arabic.
But, despite George W, it was good to be there. It had been over seven months since I had seen my beloved daughter, and a year since seeing one of my oldest friends. I would have travelled anywhere in the world to rectify this.
After
a wonderful reunion with my girlfriend and a couple of days saying hello to New
York after a 10 year absence, we got a cab to La Guardia Airport, en route to
West Virginia to see my daughter Lee and her partner Eddie.
The cab driver was Lebanese. Like the clichéd cab driver the world over, he started to give us his opinions - once he had established that we were not American and certainly not anti-Arab. He expanded on the problems he faced in the current climate of war, war, and war. He had fled the war in Lebanon and came to America to find freedom but right now, he said, he was really missing his homeland!
Checking in at La Guardia, the official took one look at our passports and said (I quote him verbatim): "You Brits are our only allies. Not like those French bastards. Don't they realise that if it hadn't been for youse guys they'd all be speaking German?!"
My husband and I did a Uriah Heep (ever so 'umble), were waved through security again and onto the plane, again relieved that they had not searched my bags and found my seditious medication.
Christmas with Lee and Eddie was really special: thick snow everywhere, very traditional. A drive into the mountains for a meal with Eddie's huge 'hillbilly' family, who welcomed us with open arms. Any misconceptions we might have had about banjo players completely disappeared. It was only afterwards that I remembered that Lee had told them about my status some time ago. It had obviously made no difference to them.
However, the unfortunate habit of Americans to set all air conditioning to 'chill' set my sinuses off badly. I became aware I was not exactly feeling 100 per cent, and even having travel insurance with an HIV-friendly company did not really help with the unease I was beginning to feel. It's a scary thought falling ill in the USA.
A longer stay on returning to New York made me very aware of just how much it has changed. I remember it as rude, fast, funny, irreverent and proud. Now it felt introspected, polite and shell-shocked - even the street hustlers were polite. You just know New Yorkers will never be the same again. Friends there agreed with this but said it was not just down to '9/11' but also ex-mayor Giuliani's clean-up policy. But whatever it was, it certainly isn't the Big Apple I remember. If New York was a person, I'd swear he or she had just been diagnosed with HIV.
The moment we arrived back in the UK my symptoms turned into a severe chest infection. What a relief it held off till our return. The antibiotics are kicking in at last, and my passport still does not have my HIV status stamped on it.
It was a good and thought-provoking trip, but we are glad to be home with our fellow Brits.
We are off to see my mother in South Africa next month. No worries about my status being uncovered there - but we will not be expecting a heroes' welcome either!
As she says, Caroline is taking a three-month break in South Africa. Read Allan Morris next month...
