Adventures at the airport

After 7 days in New York, I decided to leave a day earlier and spend only 9 days instead of 10, so I could spend the weekend in London. At La Guardia Airport (one of the many airport in NY), everything goes as planned and I am well in advance for boarding. I am supposed to take the plane to Washington (stopover) then to London. The schedule is tight, I have just over 1 hour to transfer in Washington and no room for delays. But things are not going so well already, boarding is 15 min late ... but this is still ok. Finally, everyone is in and we are good to go. The plane moves off the gate and goes toward the runaway. Oh nooo, the pilot warns us of a technical problem and we have to go back to the gate for a quick repair/check. So back to the beginning at the gate, but still in the plane. At this stage, half the people in the plane have correspondances to other destinations (national and international) and everyone gets nervous (especially considering it is 9pm and there won't be other flights today). After 1 hour, the plane is fixed and moving back to the runaway. We take off more than 1 hour later than the scheduled time. In washington, 90% of people missed their transfer and we all find each others at the Customer Desk in order to get the next flight the next day, a hotel room and hopefully food.
In the end, I am in bed by 12.30am in a nice hotel 10 min away and with a $15 food airport voucher. Luckily there is a free internet connection, so I can send an email to Thomas who was supposed to pick me up in London. Up and awake at 6.30am, quick breakfast from 6.50 to 7am, at the airport at 7.30am and in the plane at 9.30am.
Note: United Airlines is not so good compared to other companies I flew with. Looks like a company that has not evolved since the early 90's. If you can avoid ... do so!
Note2: When I went to bed, the only food I had was an apple (which I had in my bag). No food since midday. I was hoping to get dinner in the plane to London. At least this is a good way to loose weight ;-)